Our nested collaboratives have continued to make progress at a more local level. These include work taking place between our two mental health and learning disability providers, local acute and community partnerships and collaboration with our ambulance service. These nested collaboratives allow us to respond to local needs while staying aligned with wider system goals.
Great North Healthcare Alliance
The Great North Healthcare Alliance is a partnership between our NENC Providers in Gateshead, Newcastle, Northumbria and North Cumbria.
By working in partnership and bringing together resources, expertise and skills, the aim of the Alliance is to deliver better care for local communities.
Four Trusts (Northumbria Healthcare, Newcastle Hospitals, Gateshead Health and North Cumbria Integrated Care) have all signed up to a Collaboration Agreement and set up some formal governance processes to meet together and take joint decisions through Committees in Common.
In recognition of their very close ties, Newcastle, Northumbria and Gateshead have also taken arrangements a step further by establishing a Joint Committee, a tighter form of governance to support joint decision making, with a Shared Chair in place.
Although North Cumbria is not part of the Joint Committee, it is working in partnership with Newcastle Hospitals to help make services in North Cumbria more sustainable.
Central collaboration between CDDFT and STSFT
Our NENC Providers in South Tyneside, Sunderland, County Durham and Darlington are also in early discussions about greater collaboration.
Both Trusts share the same aim to work more closely together, learn from each other and further develop clinical services.
There are already many areas where South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust work together to deliver specialist services like Dermatology, Head and Neck, Vascular, Renal and Urology.
Work will progress in the year ahead to build on this success and agree where efforts are best focused to make sure patients get the best possible care and ensure the stability of clinical services for the future.
University Hospitals Tees
In 2024, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust came together to form the University Hospitals Tees (UHT) collaborative. With 16,000 staff and a combined budget of £1.4 billion, UHT provides care across four main hospitals and more than ten community sites. As a major employer and anchor institution, UHT plays a key role in supporting the health and wellbeing of local communities.
Over the past year, UHT has made strong progress in joining up services and improving care closer to home.
The Tees Valley Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) opened in April 2025. This £24.4 million investment, led by University Hospitals Tees, is part of a wider plan to improve health services in the area. The CDC will be supported by spoke sites in Hartlepool, Redcar, and Northallerton, and has also received an additional £1.5million for further development.
Looking ahead, UHT plans to bring its teams and systems even closer together, working more like a single organisation. Through this collaborative approach, UHT is helping to create a more connected, responsive and community-focused health system for the people of Tees Valley.
Mental Health
In 2024–25, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) continued to work together to improve mental health and learning disability services across the region. Their shared focus has been on delivering more joined-up, person-centred care that meets the needs of individuals, families and communities.
Together, the Trusts are helping to build a more accessible, responsive and compassionate mental health system for the North East and North Cumbria — one that reflects the voices of service users and the strengths of local communities.
