Personal trainers are to be offered on the NHS in a drive to improve the nation's health and fitness. The trainers, who will devise personalized plans to improve people's well-being, are part of last year's Public Health White Paper's pledge to reduce health inequalities across the country.

A Government report said that as yet there had been no reduction in the health gap between the best and worst off.

But it said there were signs that progress had been made in key areas such as child poverty and heart disease, which were likely to contribute to the gap narrowing in the future.

The 12 areas named as the first to benefit from health trainers will each receive £200,000 in extra funding to provide personalized plans for people to improve health and prevent diseases like cancer and heart disease.

After targeting the most disadvantaged areas, the scheme will extend to the rest of England in 2007.

The Health trainers will give support to local people in their communities and provide information to help them develop personal health plans and carry them out. This might include giving a pregnant woman information about her local stop smoking services or accompanying a woman to a breast screening appointment.

Equally, health trainers will identify barriers to individuals making healthier choices and help find solutions to get over them.

The 12 areas to become the first to receive extra funding for health trainers are:

§ Bradford

§ Tameside and Glossop

§ South East London

§ Manchester

§ Gateshead

§ West and Eastern Hull

§ Kirklees

§ Bristol

§ Birmingham and the Black Country

§ County Durham and Tees Valley

§ Derbyshire

§ Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear