We want to greatly improve the treatment and care patients receive in our hospitals in North Tyneside and Northumberland. To do this we plan to invest
£200 million over the next 10 years, so that we can:
- Build a new specialist emergency hospital close to the North Tyneside and Northumberland boundary
- Improve the facilities at Wansbeck and North Tyneside General Hospitals
- Rebuild our community hospitals in Berwick, Haltwhistle and Morpeth
Our
emergency hospital will be dedicated to treating those patients who are seriously ill or injured and who would be taken to hospital by ambulance or asked to go there immediately by their GP.
The new hospital will offer state-of-the-art emergency care, designed to make sure patients get the best possible treatment if they become seriously unwell.
When patients arrive at the new hospital, they will be treated by our senior emergency care doctors. Those patients who are admitted for further care will go on to be treated by a senior specialist doctor who is an expert in their condition or illness.
We don’t expect people to stay in the new hospital for very long, as it is designed to provide specialist care for people who are very unwell. Once a person’s treatment has started and their condition is improving, they would either be discharged home or transferred to their nearest
general hospital or
community hospital for the remainder of their care. We expect most care to be delivered at local hospitals where patients will be looked after by specialist doctors and nurses.
Although we treat lots of patients who become seriously unwell, most patients we treat in our emergency care (A&E) departments have routine, less serious illnesses or injuries. If patients have a routine illness or injury, we will continue to treat them as we do now – at the patients local general hospital or community hospital.
If patients are receiving emergency treatment at their local general hospital, you are likely to be seen more quickly than you are now, as patients with more serious conditions, who are currently treated ahead of routine patients, would have gone directly to the new hospital.
All care patients receive which is planned (where someone has an appointment and knows they are coming into hospital) for example operations or procedures, outpatient appointments, scans, x-rays and other tests, would continue to be provided at local general hospitals.