SMOKING at work could become a thing of the past in north Durham, as a drive to cut premature deaths and boost the health of residents gets under way.

People in Derwentside have much worse health and don't live as long as the national average.

Derwentside Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Derwentside District Council are working to bridge the gap. But a report published this week shows that the situation is worsening for lung cancer and for cancers in women.

The PCT is making tobacco control its top priority for the coming year - as well as obesity - and hopes to set up no-smoking zones in public places.

The campaign will initially focus on creating smoke-free workplaces.

Dr Anne Low, director of public health for the PCT and district council, said: "We need to work with businesses and help them develop smoke-free policies. Having smoke-free places helps prevent people from starting to smoke, especially young people.

"It is really important that we address tobacco control, but at the same time we must respect the rights of smokers."

The Public Health annual report looks at how far Derwentside lags behind national averages for various illnesses and conditions, and how the gaps can be narrowed.

Dr Low said: "Our health improvement objectives for Derwentside are not only to improve the health of the population over time, but also to narrow and eliminate local-national gaps.

"This is a challenging objective, as it means making health gains faster than the national average."

The Government expects the trust to slash the mortality rate from cancer in people under 75 by 20 per cent by 2010. But deaths from cancer in this section of the population have not significantly decreased, and the health gap is actually widening.

The trust's major successes over the past 12 months have been cutting the number of teenage pregnancies and reducing premature deaths from coronary heart disease.

Deaths from heart disease in men have plummeted from 184 per 100,000 population in 1995, to less than 130 per 100,000. The national average in 1995 was 137 per 100,000 and is now about 110.

If trends continue, the local/national health gap for coronary heart disease could be eliminated by 2010.