PEOPLE with mental health problems will have access to help 24 hours a day following a £1million cash injection.

A "crisis resolution" service is being set up and will be running by December. It will treat people in their own home and only use hospital admission as a last resort.

A total of £752,060 will be pumped into mental health services in Bolton over the next two years.

The investment comes after a study found Bolton to be the third worst in Greater Manchester for investing in mental health care -- even though 20 per cent of the population will suffer from mental health problems in their lifetime.

People living in central and southern Bolton report the most mental health problems.

Bolton Primary Care Trust will invest £158,000 over the next 12 months and a further £350,000 in 2005/6.

There will also be a transfer of mental health staff from the Bolton, Salford and Trafford Mental Health Trust to the PCT totalling £752,060.

Dr Kevin Snee, chief executive of Bolton Primary Care Trust, said: "We have historically had low levels of mental health funding in Bolton and it is nice to be talking about investing in a service for a change."

The crisis resolution service will not result in beds at the Royal Bolton Hospital being lost, health chiefs say. The team will consist of one consultant psychologist, 13 nurses and support staff from Social Services totalling 27 staff in all. They will work in shifts until 11pm and then be on call during the night.

The start-up costs for the crisis team for the first year total £931,618 with most of the money coming from a redesign of mental health services as well as funding from Bolton PCT and Social Services.

Community mental health services will also improve with extra support for the existing work and new mental health workers will be recruited.

An in-depth assessment of Bolton's mental health services revealed that current primary care is excellent but access to the services was not and the needs of people with milder mental health problems were not being met.