PATIENTS with long-term health problems are being invited to take part in a pioneering project to help them take control of their conditions and improve their lives.

The Expert Patient Programme has been tried in other parts of the UK with some success - but Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust is the first in North Yorkshire to join the experiment.

Volunteers will be invited to join a free course of group sessions focusing on methods designed to help them manage illnesses such as diabetes, depression and asthma.

The trust's senior trainer, Jenny Poulter, said: "The programme has been designed to help people with long-term health conditions regain as much control over their physical and mental well-being as possible.

"It is not about learning how to manage your illness from a medical point of view, but about learning skills to help you get the most out of life given the fact that you have a long-term health condition."

The trust has emphasised the courses will be led by the patients rather than health professionals; programme leaders all have experience of making changes in their lives because of their own condition or through the illness of a close relative.

Feedback from courses elsewhere in the country suggests patients have been able to boost their self-esteem, shed feelings of guilt about their conditions, learn to relax and to adopt a more positive frame of mind.

"We know people often have a wealth of experience and knowledge about living with conditions like asthma, diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, but examining this experience and sharing it with others leads people to become more confident and better equipped to use the resources from the health care system," said the trust's communications manager, Anne Botterill.

"We are now in the process of contacting people with long-term conditions through local groups, healthcare staff working in GP surgeries and through the media, telling them about the programme and advising them of the dates and venues of forthcoming courses."

For details, call Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust on (01845) 573800. The first sessions will be run in September.