NHS managers in the region are hoping to receive nearly £7m to improve mental health services.

The improvements would be part of on-going £59m improvements to the way mental health services are provided across Teesside and County Durham.

Part of the plans involve moving all mental health inpatient services for adults and older people away from hospitals and into the community by 2007.

Tees and East Yorkshire NHS Health Trust's board has approved plans to speed up part of the project which could see some services move within the next two years.

However, the trust must first persuade County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority to give nearly £7m to the plans in its next budget.

Moira Britton, chief executive of the trust, said: "This isn't simply about moving mental health services to a new site. Patients tell us that they want access to more services closer to their own homes and that's what we will aim to provide."

If the Strategic Health Authority approves the trust's plans to fast track part of the project, then the services affected will be inpatient adult mental health services for people in Hartlepool and Easington, services for older people in Stockton, Hartlepool and Easington and Tees-wide rehabilitation and recovery services.

The £7m would allow the trust to spend about £4.5m on a new building in Hartlepool to provide specialist mental health inpatient services for the adults and older people of Hartlepool and Easington.

It would also allow £1.7m for a building in Durham Road, Stockton to provide older people's mental health services and £700,000 to accommodate adults with severe mental health problems who cannot be cared for in their own homes.