A HEALTH initiative is urging people who want to stop smoking to join forces with their workmates to improve their chances.

The Dales Primary Care Group (PCG) is offering people free advice and training sessions in the workplace.

The initiative is open to workers in Teesdale and Weardale, and staff from the Dales PCG will visit organisations to give weekly group sessions for a seven-week period.

It is hoped that the initiative will encourage groups of smokers to support each other as they try to give up.

Margaret Raymond, of the Dales PCG, said: "Research shows that working days are lost through smoking-related illness. Coughs and colds are prolonged in people who smoke, and smoking is directly linked with lung cancer, heart disease and strokes."

Application forms have been sent to organisations in Teesdale and Weardale, and the PCG is also offering advice leaflets and posters to be put up around workplaces.

For details or information on how to stop smoking, write to the Dales Primary Care Group, 1 George Street, Bishop Auckland, DL14 7BE.