THREE companies have joined forces to conduct a major adult dental health survey for County Durham and Darlington Health Authority.

Washington Data Centre, Aztec Print, both from Washington, and the University of Sunderland's Data Capture Bureau, have pooled their resources to offer a complete service package for the survey, which will go out to more than 20,000 homes this month.

The survey will help the health authority to understand the dental health needs of adults living in the area, so it can provide better services.

The companies will handle all aspects of the survey, from questionnaire preparation for scanning and postage to handling the responses and manning a telephone line to answer queries from the public.

Des Deery, managing director of Washington Data Centre, said: "All three companies are specialists in their particular field, so by combining the resources, County Durham and Darlington Health Authority will get the best quality of service."

The Data Capture Bureau has taken a questionnaire designed by the health authority and has reformatted it into a document that can be scanned for automatic data collection.