South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Merry Christmas to everyone! A special thank you goes out to our hardworking staff who are working over Christmas and serving our communities over the festive holiday. We are grateful for everything you do!

“The care I received was top-notch and I am grateful for each one of them for saving my life.” In September 2023, Jill woke up in her home in Thirsk with a dense weakness on the left side of her body including her face, arm and leg. She was instantly blue-lighted to James Cook Hospital’s neurology and stroke unit as she had shown signs of a stroke. After initially being assessed by the stroke team and having an urgent computed tomography (CT) scan, clinicians discovered a large clot in the major blood vessel supplying the right side of Jill’s brain. Hospital staff quickly scrambled to get Jill into the operation theatre and performed a mechanical thrombectomy within the same day of her admission. Thanks to this, Jill recovered from her stroke and was discharged within six days – with support from the hospital’s community stroke therapy support. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eWh-Yjax

A devoted lead nurse from our trust is helping to shape the future of UK healthcare research after landing a prestigious new role. Nicky Cunningham who started her research career at our trust over 25 years ago, has been appointed as the regional research setting lead for all hospitals across North East and North Cumbria. She will be working for the National Institute for Health and Care Research Regional Research Delivery Network. Supporting hospitals to give people across our region more opportunities to be part of research when receiving care in hospital. Nicky is currently the lead nurse for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAHP) research at our trust and will start her new regional lead position for the NIHR RRDN in February next year which will run alongside her current role. Congratulations on such a fantastic achievement! Read more about Nicky’s new role and her hopes for the future of research for our region here: https://lnkd.in/gphhSvyr NIHR Research Delivery Network

We've planned carefully for a tough winter – please do your bit to help! That's the message from the region's NHS as doctors, nurses and health staff navigate the busiest time of their year. Recent winters have brought services under great pressure, and NHS leaders have put detailed plans in place to keep the system working well when patients need it the most. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dD5QHfnV

Massive congratulations to palliative care clinical nurse specialist Hayley Hadfield for scooping the prestigious Queen’s Nurse recognition, which is awarded by the Queen’s Nursing Institute. Queen’s Nurse (QN) title is a distinguished honour recognising a nurse’s commitment to ongoing learning, leadership and excellence in healthcare. Hayley said: “I feel extremely humbled to have been awarded a Queen’s nurse title! It demonstrates my commitment to maintaining high standards of patient care, learning and leadership within my role now and going forward throughout my career.” Read more about this achievement: https://lnkd.in/e7iuFWm4

The new Tees Valley Community Diagnostic Centre in Stockton will be supported by other diagnostic sites in Redcar, Northallerton and Hartlepool – offering rapid access to health checks close to people’s homes. To find out more visit https://lnkd.in/eFn_CgEU

We are inviting local communities to remember their loved ones this festive season by dedicating a memorial bauble on our Christmas trees at Friarage and James Cook Hospitals. Each bauble has a feather inside it along with a heartfelt personalised message and will be hung on Christmas trees at Friarage and James Cook. The money raised from this campaign will help the trust to enhance the experience of patients, staff and visitors. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dZTj3P3M

Last week stroke teams from South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust attended the UK Stroke Forum in Liverpool to find out more about the future of stroke services in the UK. The teams took active part in the conference by displaying seven posters highlighting the advance services provided to our stroke patients. Trainee advanced clinical practitioner Andrew Young won the best poster prize in the National Stroke Nursing Forum category.

Congratulations to the postgraduate team at James Cook have won a prestigious PACES Champions award for their commitment to medical education. https://lnkd.in/dA9vQZXp

Congratulations to our Macmillan information and support centre at James Cook Hospital for retaining the prestigious Macmillan Quality Environment Mark (MQEM) Award. The team has achieved the highest MQEM which demonstrates to our staff, patients and visitors that they: ✅ Are welcoming and accessible to all ✅ Are respectful of people's privacy and dignity ✅ Are supportive of patients' comfort and wellbeing ✅ Give choice and control to people using the service ✅ Listen to the voice of their patients Well done to everyone involved.