Health and social care agencies are being urged to work together to cut the high number of suicides in a North-East town.

Darlington has one of the worst rates in the region with an average of 18 people a year taking their own lives compared to the national figure of ten per 100,000 of the population.

A special report on suicides has pinpointed the high-risk groups and suicide hot-spots - and come up with a package of recommendations to tackle the problem.

The audit was commissioned by the Suicide Prevention Task Force and looked at deaths over a three-year period in Darlington.

Project manager Neil Johnson examined 53 cases of suicide involving people aged 18 to 82.

About three quarters of the deaths involved men, with peaks in May and December and a low in September.

Most had either taken overdoses of painkillers or anti-depressants, used car exhaust fumes or hanged themselves.

The report identified two hotspots in the town -- the River Tees at Broken Scar and Merrybent Bridge -- where four people had killed themselves.

Mr Johnson also discovered that an eighth had been the victim or perpetrator of abuse.

The Government wants to see a 20 per cent reduction in the number of suicides by 2010 and Darlington Primary Care Trust (PCT) last year drew up an action plan to meet that target.

But the report urges further action, including greater liaison between health and social services, police and Highways Agency.

Darlington PCT's health improvement specialist Vicky Waterson said: "One of the findings is that it is mainly men, who are notoriously difficult to reach.

"But what was surprising was that most were in employment, which is different from the national picture and tells us we need to target the workplace.

A suicide prevention conference is being organised to take place in Darlington in October.