So much progress to celebrate

Jul 4 2008 by Karen Wilson, The Journal

HELLO and welcome to Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s celebration of 60 years of the NHS. We hope you’ll join us in feeling proud of how far we have come in more than half a century of providing the best possible care to the people of North Tyneside and Northumberland.

We believe strongly in quality of care for all our patients and have invested heavily in recent years to ensure we provide this. Our hospitals are light, airy, modern and clean – much more welcoming than the traditional imposing buildings of 60 years ago.

Our patients benefit from short waiting times, modern operating theatres, leading edge diagnostic equipment, clean hospitals and friendly, skilled, dedicated staff.

We have invested in services for our rural communities, such as chemotherapy at Berwick and our patients in Alnwick and Berwick can now have their MRI scans at their local hospitals. Northumbria was also one of the first trusts to have voice-activated equipment in operating theatres.

As you can see, the NHS in North Tyneside and Northumberland has made great strides in providing high quality services for all our patients, using the latest technology, combined with good old fashioned care and attention.

We’d like to thank all our patients for choosing Northumbria Healthcare Trust to receive their care and also thank the staff who have contributed to the NHS and our trust over the past 60 years. Here’s to another great 60 years! Many thanks.

Jim Mackey and Brian Flood

Chief executive and chairman, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

If you’d like to find out more about Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, please take a look at our new website www.northumbria.nhs.uk