Published: 28/02/2002, Volume II2, No. 5794 Page 8

A new single trust is to be set up covering mental health and learning disability services in Cheshire and Wirral, called the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership trust. It follows 14 weeks of public consultation and will become fully operational on 1 April 2002.Announcing the decision, junior health minister Lord Hunt said: 'I am confident that bringing these services together into a single organisation will provide patients and their carers with better services which will continue to be provided locally.'