Two Teesside hospital trusts have revealed a new identity to show when they are officially working in partnership for the benefit of the Tees Valley and beyond.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have worked together for many years to ensure the best care for local patients and this relationship was formalised earlier this year with the creation of the region’s first hospital group.
While both trusts remain as separate organisations – keeping their own existing identities – going forward they will collectively be known as University Hospitals Tees.
Better outcomes for everyone
Working as a group will deliver better outcomes for:
- Patients – by ensuring equal access to treatment and sharing best practice on how to deliver care.
- Staff – by enabling them to work on all of the group’s sites more easily and develop career opportunities.
- The wider population – by collaborating to work on endemic health issues and having a coherent voice to represent the people of the Tees Valley and parts of County Durham and North Yorkshire.
It is hoped that by working together the two trusts will be better placed to bid for national funding for the area and better able to retain and attract specialist doctors and nurses in hard-to-recruit areas.
The trusts engaged with patients, staff, stakeholders and foundation trust members to agree on the group name, branding and strapline – Caring Better Together – all delivered by the trusts’ in-house communication teams.
Stacey Hunter, group chief executive, said: “The group name was concluded after much engagement with our staff, partners, patients and members over several months. It is important to note that both trusts remain as statutory organisations. This is not a merger, it’s a collaboration to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients, our staff and our communities.
“The group will give the Tees Valley, North Yorkshire and Country Durham a voice the represents the real needs of our communities. It will also ensure that as the first group model for our region, we are able to offer opportunities for our staff across a wider landscape.”
Our new group identity, with Professor Derek Bell
Hello, I’m Professor Derek Bell, I’m the group chair of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and South Tees NHS Foundation Trust. Today we’ll be announcing the new name of our group model. And importantly these still remain two statutory bodies, both North Tees and Hartlepool Trust and indeed South Tees Trust. These are independent bodies but we are now working collaboratively as a group and I’m pleased to announce that the name will be University Hospitals Tees.