A NEW drive to help reduce crippling demand on council services and hospitals is launching with a £9.5 million budget.

Worcestershire County Council is developing a new 'prevention service' which it aims to launch from October 2016 under a deal with the NHS.

The cash-strapped authority, which is facing severe funding pressures, wants to aim it at 0-19 year-olds to free up A&E, reduce school drop-outs and ease pressure on social care.

Although a lot of work lies ahead the main targets it will focus on have already been identified including reducing the numbers of children known to social care workers and tackling A&E admissions, teenage conceptions and substance misuse.

Some of the services it will bring together under one roof include parenthood classes, breastfeeding advice, healthy nutrition, speech therapy for children and mental health for pupils.

It will bring together some functions currently provided by either different parts of the council or NHS into one place, with millions being chucked at it.

An existing £9.5 million public health grant has been earmarked towards the launch and it will be beefed up by additional cash from elsewhere, including potentially £7 million of NHS funds for services currently lead by health professionals.

There is also around £3 million currently spent at County Hall towards various services like adolescent mental health and support for struggling families, which could be added to it.

It has already been endorsed by the council's Conservative leadership, which has backed the approach.

Councillor Marcus Hart, cabinet member for health and well-being, said: "Prevention is clearly the name of the day.

"Prevent, reduce and delay are the key three words and they are absolutely essential.

"The approach we are taking, frankly, is a common sense approach and one that's being talked about nationally."

Councillor John Campion, the cabinet member for children and families, added: "We want to get to the root of the problem rather than just finding more and more money.

"We can't get away from the fact that once a child becomes looked-after (in care), that young person's life chances drop dramatically."

The plan forms part of a new wider council strategy it calls 'demand management', a response to huge demographic pressures among both the young and old.

Worcestershire currently has around 716 children in care and at the other end of the spectrum, more than 3,500 pensioners in nursing homes.

The bill for care services for elderly people is currently rising by £1.8 million a year, to over £137 million.