A CHILDREN'S charity has teamed up with a hospice to offer improved services to ill children and their families.

The Rainbow Trust, which has been operating in the North-East for five years, has developed a close working relationship with St Oswald's Hospice in Gosforth.

It has now opened an office at the hospice and the two organisations plan to work even more closely in the future.

Both charities offer a complementary service to families with sick children.

The Rainbow Trust has a team of family support workers and St Oswald's offers hospice care.

St Oswald's chief executive Richard Parker said: "We welcome the opportunity to work with the Rainbow Trust, who like ourselves are committed to supporting the whole family as well as the individual child.