HEALTH care bosses in Sedgefield have vowed to use a multi-million pound boost to tackle the area's appalling rates of heart disease and cancer.

Sedgefield Primary Care Trust plans to use its share of a £7bn NHS cash injection to prevent and treat two of the borough's biggest killers.

The trust will receive an additional £23.3m from the Government for 2006 to 2008 in a move designed to overcome the inequalities in life expectancy in needy areas.

The windfall, announced by health secretary John Reid last Wednesday, will boost the trust's £110m annual budget by about nine per cent.

Chief executive Nigel Porter said the trust hopes the cash can help to cut the levels of coronary heart disease in Sedgefield, which are among the highest in the country.

He said: "We are delighted with the news that we'll get more money to invest in our services.

"We hope to improve access for patients to services, particularly lessening waiting times for planned care.

"We have got a poor health record in Sedgefield - especially cancer and coronary heart disease so we want to improve patient care and look at preventative measures.

"We are looking at doing more for people with mental health needs so the money will help us with that and hope to improve another problem area - oral health."

One initiative already in the pipeline, is a voluntary fluoridated milk scheme for children. Extra nurses will be taken on to work with every secondary school in the borough promoting balanced diets, exercise and raising awareness of sexual health.

Smoking cessation support will be more readily available.

The extra money will also enable the trust to support other care providers such as West Park Hospital in Darlington, and to take on more community nurses to support mental health patients in the home.

Mr Porter said: "It is still very early days so we are still in the process of working out the finer details.

"We will make the best use of the extra money to improve services and the health of people in Sedgefield."