NHS Salford is inviting members of the local community to follow them on Twitter, the popular microblogging site and Facebook, the social networking site.

Karl Brookes, a spokesperson for NHS Salford, said: "It’s important that we move with the times and Twitter and Facebook are free ways of staying in touch with a part of the community that we are proud to serve."

Brookes added: ‘Thanks to these networks we saw various stakeholders including students at the University, the Salford Advertiser and elected representatives come together to promote No Smoking Day. This 'retweeting' helped encouraged many people to get in touch with our Smoking Cessation service on the day and in the following few days."

The Trust confirmed that it had well over 400 followers on Twitter and said those interested in following NHS Salford could do so by visiting http://twitter.com/nhssalford or searching for NHS Salford on www.facebook.com