A HOSPITAL team has won praise for its battle to erase the stigma attached to mental health problems.

The Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, which provides mental health and learning disability services to people on Teesside, has been praised in a national competition for the quality of its annual report.

The trust was highly commended in the Nexus annual report awards - the fourth year running it has featured in the awards - for its 2003 annual report.

Trust spokeswoman Caroline Parnell, who picked up the award, said: "Mental health and learning disabilities are often misunderstood areas of health. We spend a lot of time and effort trying to shatter some of the myths and tackle the stigma often attached to mental health and learning disabilities.

"Our annual report is an important part of that work, sharing not only what our staff have achieved over the last 12 months but also how we are working with service users, carers and many other organisations to improve local services for local people. So we are delighted to pick up this national honour for the quality of our report."

The report was among more than 300 reports entered in the competition.

It featured winning photographs from a competition, which will feature in next year's calendar and a touring exhibition.

Geoffrey Bowden, chairman of the judges, said: "The standard of entries just gets better and better each year and our job gets more difficult every year. The quality of entries is so high that just making the shortlist is an achievement.

"What is obvious from all the entries is the commitment of NHS organisations to providing patients, carers and the public with clear, easy to understand information about local health services."