A SCHEME set up to provide mental health patients with on-the-spot advice is being extended across Teesside and parts of Yorkshire.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (Pals) has been piloted across Middlesbrough, Stockton and Hartlepool for the past year.

Due to its success, Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust is to extend Pals to patients with mental health problems in Redcar and Cleveland, Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale and South Easington.

The trust said it had received fewer formal complaints since the project, which offers confidential advice and support for patients and their families or carers, was launched.