Arriving at the University Hospital of North Tees was something of a homecoming (I was an executive director there back in the early 2000s). The site itself hasn't changed much, but the internal layout and expansion in beds and services highlights the progress the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has made and the way it's responding to current challenges.
I had an excellent introductory conversation with Professor Derek Bell, trust chair. Derek is joint chair of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is ambitious to realise the benefits of the two trusts working together to improve health and care for the population of the Tees Valley, an area of significant health inequalities.
The two trust boards recently appointed Stacey Hunter as joint chief executive officer. Stacey will lead the development of a single executive team and aim to realise the potential of joint working.
I met with Neil Atkinson, Interim chief executive officer at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust who took me on a tour of the site to two contrasting areas in terms of capital and estate condition. We started in ICU, where the unit's beds are close to each other with little space to store vital equipment; its capacity is also extremely stretched. Nurse manager Tom described the real constraints of this space, explaining how the team managed during the pandemic, expanding into operating theatres and managing vital oxygen supply across the trust despite ageing infrastructure. Tom praised his team as doing a magnificent job despite environmental constraints; it's clear this is a unit in need of urgent upgrade, given current ICU pressures.
The respiratory ward we visited next is an example of a modern, well-equipped and well-designed ward. Ward manager Maria described its benefits and explained the impact it has on care delivery and staff morale. The privacy and dignity of patients and the quality of the environment to support recovery is clear to see. As ever, I was struck by the importance of capital investment in improving patient experience and the variation that exists even within the same building.
Neil and I then drove to the Riverside Stadium to meet clinicians from both North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who were coming together to shape the future for their closer collaborative working. I spoke about culture, teamwork and improvement in support of this process and left optimistic about these two trusts realising their joint ambition to transform health and care for the people of the Tees Valley and beyond.
About the author
