ROUND-THE-CLOCK help is being offered to people facing mental health problems, in a bid to reduce suicide rates.

Schemes are being piloted in Stockton and Darlington to provide a 24-hour crisis service.

An NHS medical team will assess and treat sufferers in their own home, while taking pressure off overworked hospital accident and emergency departments.

The Government wants to see a 20 per cent reduction in the number of suicides by 2010.

Darlington has one of the worst suicide rates in the region.

Statistics reveal that 17 people per 100,000 take their own lives in the town each year compared to a national average of ten per 100,000 of the population. Young men are deemed to be the most at risk.

Previously, people needing help could see mental health nurses and social workers between 9am and 10pm.

Darlington Primary Care Trust and County Durham and Darlington Priority Services Trust is now providing a specialist crisis intervention team, which will be offering a 24 hour service.

The initiative will be based at the Pierremont Unit, next to Darlington Memorial Hospital, where patients will also be offered a home management service.

In Stockton, a team of nurses, support workers, social workers and administration staff, will be at the University Hospital of North Tees, to provide a safe and effective home assessment and treatment service, as an alternative to inpatient care.

The team will be trained to recognise crisis signs and work with a patient to, hopefully, avoid the need for hospital admission. The crisis team works alongside the Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust self-harm team to provide the extended 24-hour service.

Scheme manager Simon Beaumont said: "Traditionally, taking someone into hospital was the first reaction to helping a person in crisis, but leaving their home can be very distressing."