NHS workers have welcomed continued large falls in Hartlepool's teenage pregnancy rate.

Hartlepool used to have one of the worst under-age pregnancy rates in the UK, at 81.8 per thousand.

But the figure has fallen dramatically in recent years and now stands at about 58 per thousand.

Health officials claim that the improvement shows how their new Vision for Care strategy for the town is becoming reality.

At the annual meeting of Hartlepool Primary Care Trust (PCT), chief executive Angela Hawkes conceded that the strategy had failed to achieve a three-star status, the highest available ranking.

However, she pointed to a number of achievements, including the reduction in teenage pregnancy rates by 18.7 per cent, which meant the town had recorded one of the best performances in the North-East.

She added that the number of people stopping smoking had exceeded targets by 85 per cent, which had been noted by Health Secretary John Reid.

At one point, the trust set up anti-smoking clinics in pubs to spread the message to more smokers.

Mrs Hawkes also said that a new out-of-hours service had been a success and that 4,000 patients had been treated for routine ailments by pharmacists instead of doctors, which had freed up GPs' time.

She said: "We all knew that health in Hartlepool wasn't as good as it could be, which is why we developed Vision for Care as the framework for the future."

She said there were plans for a new town centre resource centre to increase the work.

PCT chairman Gerald Wistow said: "We have begun to make an enormous difference at a rate that is increasing all the time.

" There are enormous challenges for the future.

"It is never straightforward implementing packages of care but we do follow our words with action and I hope the people of Hartlepool will share our confidence that we are committed to make a difference."

The PCT was established three years ago and has an annual budget of £105m.