A pioneering partnership has been launched as the latest phase of The Northern Echo's award-winning campaign to reduce waiting times for heart bypass operations.

The paper, which labels itself the "Great Daily of the North", has joined forces with Wear Valley District Council, the Durham 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 was launched by health secretary Alan Milburn at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, at an event attended by senior health figures from across the region.

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

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.

A special educational campaign supplement is also being published with The Northern Echo, with extra copies being distributed to Wear Valley schools.

The Echo 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 investment has cut the average waiting time so that no one should now wait longer than 12 months.

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