The ‘portability agreement’ supports the effective temporary movement of staff between organisations across the North East and North Cumbria.
All Foundation Trusts in the region have signed up with the aim of cutting down on the usual lengthy recruitment timelines and support operational service delivery.
Terry Phillips who is the Clinical Network Manager of the North East and North Cumbria Congenital Heart Disease Network as well as County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust’s General Manager of Children and Young People's Service, Julie Southern. They joined us on NENC Providers Podcast.
Terry and Julie discuss how they used the 'portability agreement' and why there was a need to do so whilst also talking about how their departments/networks benefited and the challenges they faced.
The Northern Centre for Cancer Care is a collaboration between Newcastle Hospitals and North Cumbria Integrated Care which brought all non-surgical cancer services under the same roof for the first time at Cumberland Infirmary.
With an investment of £35million, the centre opened two and half years ago to improve health outcomes for the local population of north Cumbria.
The building is managed by North Cumbria Integrated Care whilst services at the centre are run by Newcastle Hospitals as part of the Northern Centre for Cancer Care.
Development of the centre allows the majority of adult cancer patients in north Cumbria access to state-of-the-art facilities and receive their care closer to home. Previously, patients who required cancer services in north Cumbria had to travel to different parts of the Cumberland Infirmary for treatment with many of the facilities not fit for purpose or were referred to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for certain treatments and procedures.
Thanks to the two Trusts coming together they now provide one of the biggest combined cancer treatment services in the country. Each year the team provides around 9,000 radiotherapy treatments and over 10,000 chemotherapy treatments in Carlisle.
