IMPROVEMENTS in health are not being enjoyed equally across North Yorkshire, according to an official report.

The county's director of public health says tackling inequalities in health remains the most difficult challenge facing the region.

In his annual report Professor Mark Baker claims the overall health of people in North Yorkshire is among the best in the North-East of England, but says the gap between those with the best and worst health experience is widening.

Areas of deprivation where action needs to be focused include Colburn and Catterick Garrison, he added.

The report recognises that health needs may emerge from within the farming community, which has been hit hard by the BSE crisis and problems in the pig industry.

It also says that more attention may need to be given to the county's small ethnic minority population.

Prof Baker said: "As more people enjoy better health, so those whose health is not improving become increasingly detached from the mainstream of society and its health care system. The progressive marginalisation of the most disadvantaged continued throughout the second half of the last century.

"Although North Yorkshire residents overall enjoy good health, these factors still apply in the county. Our people die from the same diseases with the same causes as those who live in inner cities. It is just that they die a little older here."

North Yorkshire Health Authority is due to discuss Prof Baker's findings at its next meeting on Monday.

The authority is also to consider investing an extra £600,000 over the next two years in improving services for women suffering from gynaecological cancer.

The organisation is being asked to support proposals aiming to increase the number of specialists in the three cancer centres in Hull, Leeds and Middlesbrough, which link to North Yorkshire's hospitals