Securing the supply of medicines for North East hospitals amid ever-growing demand
Work is beginning on a multi-million pound medicines manufacturing hub aimed at providing drugs to the NHS across the North East.
From a site at Seaton Delaval in south east Northumberland, the unit will supply the region's hospital network.
The facility will make up injectable drugs - notably chemotherapy for cancer patients as well as intravenous antibiotics.
The project is a collaboration between North East health trusts and has secured almost £30m of funding from the NHS nationally.
Currently, most of our major hospitals have their own facilities for making up injectable drugs, known as 'aseptic' units.
The NHS says they are coming under increasing pressure as more patients are diagnosed with diseases like cancer, coupled with advances in treatments.
Ken Bremner is Chief Executive of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and chairs the partnership of North East health trusts known as the Provider Collaborative.
He explained: “Our existing aseptic units across the region will continue to play a vital role, but this new facility now means we can achieve much better manufacturing efficiencies byworking on a much bigger scale."
Mr Bremner continued: "It will allow us to greatly increase our capacity for medicines production, create a sustainable model for the future and help us save time and money that we can reinvest in patient care."
The aim is to concentrate the production of high volume chemotherapy and antibiotics at the Seaton Delaval site, enabling the local hospital units to produce more complex treatments and those with a shorter shelf life.
The hub should bring other benefits too.
Some injectable drugs for patients on hospital wards are made up by nursing staff.
Bringing those treatments into hospital, ready prepared, should free up staff for frontline duties.
North East Medicines Manufacturing Centre at a glance:
Secured £29.7m of national NHS funding
Expected to produce more than 1m doses of injectable medicines each year
Likely savings of £2.8m every year on production of chemotherapy drugs which are currently outsourced to private companies due to demand
Source: NHS
Those involved in the project say it will create 150 jobs, with the first stage of recruitment beginning this autumn.
Matt Brown, the managing director of the region's Provider Collaborative, says the project will provide opportunities for school leavers and graduates.
He said: "We've got all sorts of different jobs here from very specialist pharmaceutical technicians - the people who'll be putting the medicines together in the production line in the unit - to warehouse operatives and drivers."
Mr Brown continued: "We've got a whole range of jobs and a lot of them will be very suitable for local young people leaving school, college, university", adding: "We're really looking forward to training up the next cadre of pharmacists and technicians."
In the coming months, the NHS will be working with schools and colleges, visiting jobs fairs and liaising with universities to spread the word about the opportunities.
The drugs hub is not the first initiative of its kind in Seaton Delaval.
It will sit alongside another NHS manufacturing unit on the same site.
During the pandemic, Northumbria Healthcare Trust, which provides services across Northumberland and North Tyneside, established a centre making PPE and other equipment.
The medicines hub will requires approval from the regulator before it can begin operating fully.
The aim of those behind the project is for manufacturing to start in spring 2026.
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