More than 500 people attended this year’s "Wirral Recovery Convention" at New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion - giving them the opportunity to share their experiences of the peninsula's healthcare services for drugs and alcohol.

The event was the third to be held in consecutive years and highlighted the partnership working across Wirral for its drug and alcohol services.

The convention included sessions staged as a sofa chat with former BBC TV news reader Jane Loughran, who interviewed clients and organisations offering treatment and aftercare to people with drug and alcohol addictions.

The issues were then opened up for discussion among the audience.

Gary Rickwood, Wirral Drug and Alcohol Action team manager for NHS Wirral, said: “The feedback we have received has been excellent. The work across the NHS and other partner agencies has helped many people to recover."

A 30ft "Recovery Time" mock brick wall made out of paper, let clients fill in a brick with their name with the length of time they have been in recovery - the total number of years totalled 679.

During the past 12 months, staff in Wirral’s drug and alcohol services team has helped more than 2,400 people to the road to recovery.

A spokesman said the number of heroin users in Wirral "appears to be dropping".

For alcohol advice call 0800 988 1421 and for drug advice call 0800 028 1300.