Hospital trust gets £3 million to support A&E this winter and plan for possible Covid second wave

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, which operates the University Hospital of North Tees and University Hospital of Hartlepool, has been awarded a share of £300 million from the Government.

The funding has been welcomed by hospital trust Chief Executive Julie Gillon who also wants to get the message across that it is safe for people to visit A&E.

Ms Gillon said the new money will help the organisation make the most of its buildings and respond to treat patients more quickly.

She said: “This is enabling us to prepare for winter and the increase in activity we expect, but it’s also enabling us to prepare for what could be that second wave and the unknown.

“Therefore we need to be very prepared to enable our staff who have worked tirelessly during phase one of Covid to actually think about how we manage patients through waiting areas and improve our waiting time response to patients.”Ms Gillon added: “It's great in that we can enact some of the work we wanted to enact last year across Teesside especially around same day emergency care and specifically across paediatrics and enable us to increase our response rate and improve our response to children, and enable us to optimise our resources in accident and emergency.”

She added the funding will help patients to feel comfortable to visit A&E if they need to and to navigate the 111 'walk and talk’ phone service.

Ms Gillon said the trust has done everything it can to ensue a clean environment with masks and hand sanitiser in use.

She added: “For the public, please don’t be afraid to come into our organisation.

"We have done everything we can to minimise your reaction to risk but we also want to manage your emergency.

"We don’t want you to sit at home.”

In announcing the funding, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “These upgrades will help our fantastic NHS prepare for the winter months, helping them to deliver essential services and reduce the risk of coronavirus infections.”

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