A PIONEERING partnership will be launched today as the latest phase of The Northern Echo's awarding-winning campaign to reduce waiting times for heart bypass operations.

We have joined forces with Wear Valley District Council, Dales Primary Care Trust, and Northumbrian Water to take the campaign - A Chance To Live - out into the community. Wear Valley has among the worst heart disease rates in the country and 2003 will be branded "A Chance To Live Year" in the district.

A series of events - including the re-launched Great North Walk - will be included in a year-long programme of community activities aimed at improving the health of people living in Wear Valley.

The initiative will be launched by Health Secretary Alan Milburn before the Dales Primary Care Trust conference at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, which will be attended by senior health figures from across the region.

Other speakers will include athletics legend Brendan Foster, managing director of Nova International, which organises The Great North Walk.

Nova International has agreed to re-launch The Great North Walk in Weardale in July after a two-year gap due to foot-and-mouth.

Other features of the campaign programme include: Walking The Way To Health series of walks; The Auckland Castle 10k Road Race; and The Weardale Triathlon.

Next Tuesday, a special educational campaign supplement will be published with The Northern Echo, with extra copies being distributed to Wear Valley schools.

The Northern Echo's campaign was inspired by the death three years ago of 38-year Darlington father-of-two Ian Weir, who worked as a photographer on the paper.

He died of a second heart attack after waiting seven months to see a consultant about the triple heart bypass operation he needed.

At that time, the average wait for a heart bypass operation in this country was a year - four times the average wait in other parts of Europe - with many patients waiting up to two years.

Since then, additional Government investment in coronary care has cut the average waiting time so no one should now wait longer than 12 months.

Read more about the A Chance to Live campaign here.