A NEW health service has been launched to help the victims and families of the Manchester Arena bombing.

The NHS has introduced a dedicated mental health hub for people directly affected by the attack on May 22.

The Manchester Resilience Hub will be accepting patients such as concert goers, immediate family members and emergency responders who will be referred to the service.

It offers support for children, young people and adults and is staffed by trained mental health professionals with experience of helping people who have experienced trauma.

They will be able to give advice about what reactions are normal, whether people would benefit from more targeted support and help people access the services they need.

Consultant clinical psychologist and the hub's adult clinical lead, Dr Alan Barrett said: "As would be expected for an incident such as this, some people are experiencing high levels of distress, so we are working very closely with them.

"The attack will have affected lots of people in some way or another but most will find they recover naturally and don’t require any professional support.

"Reactions are likely to be strongest in those closest to the incident, who directly witnessed the aftermath and who were involved in the immediate care of victims. If by now people are still struggling to cope, they may benefit from some professional mental health support."

The hub is only for people directly affected by the attack, whether they live in the Manchester area or outside of the region.

Anyone struggling with their mental health is asked to contact their GP, call NHS 111 or self-refer to their local psychological therapies service.