YOUNG people in Wyre Forest are being urged to form the country's first student health forum to share their views on the NHS.

Janie Thomas, chairman of the Wyre Forest Patient & Public Involvement - PPI - Forum said she would like to encourage school pupils to take an active role in the local health service.

She added: "I think if we can get young people together, we can find out what they want from the health service and share their views with the primary care trusts and the acute trusts."

Mrs Thomas said she believed it was important to involve young people in decision making about health issues that concerned them, such as teenage pregnancy, and that their views would be "invaluable".

The former biology teacher would also like schoolchildren to be taught about the NHS at school and said: "Students need to know who they need to contact or who to ask for help in certain health situations."

Mrs Thomas will be speaking to students at a Worcestershire high schools conference taking place on Wednesday to try and recruit members.

Anyone interested in joining a student forum can contact the PPI forum support office by writing, to Wyre Forest PPI Forum, PO Box 4150, Kidderminster DY10 3WW or Sue Hulbert on 01905 24060.