Published on: 4 July 2025
Healthcare for people across South Tyneside and Sunderland is already on the right path after the Government launched its vision for the next decade of the NHS.
That is the view of leaders at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting set out the 10 Year Health Plan.
In addition to running Sunderland Royal Hospital, South Tyneside District Hospital and Sunderland Eye Infirmary, it also runs a host of community services.
These include Palmer Community Hospital in Jarrow, Durham Treatment Centre, Sunderland Children’s Centre and Intermediate Care Assessment and Rehabilitation (ICAR) in Houghton-le-Spring.
It also provides the clinical services to St Benedict’s Hospice in Sunderland and Haven Court in South Shields, which provides health and social care services for older residents, their carers and families across South Tyneside.
The Trust also runs a vast number of services out in its communities and, working closely with its primary care partners, will help people take the lead with their own health and rehabilitate those who are recovering from illness, surgery or injury.
The 10 Year Health Plan sets out three shifts across the organisation. These will see the emphasis moved from hospital to community care, analogue ways of working focused on digital systems and preventing ill health.
The Trust is already ahead of these plans:
- Hospital to community – It has spearheaded care in people’s own surroundings through its Recovery at Home service and Virtual Wards, which help people get better in their own house, with support and the help of technology. It’s award-winning Assessment of Breathing Clinic brings together experts to help people improve their health, keeping appointment numbers and admission to emergency units down.
- Analogue to digital - Projects are already helping healthcare specialists by offering a ‘second pair of eyes’. Systems which use Artificial Intelligence (AI) are in place to check chest X-rays for cancer and other illnesses, while bowel endoscopy technology has an additional tool to flag potential polyps, which can in time become cancerous.
- Sickness to prevention – The Trust’s Population Health work is focused on supporting people to take steps to avoid becoming unwell. This includes stop smoking help – all of its estate is smoke-free – and reducing harm through alcohol, including through its Alcohol Care Team (ACT) which signposts and supports patients to cut down or stop drinking.
Ken Bremner MBE is Chief Executive of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
He said:
"We welcome today's publication of a 10 year forward plan for the NHS and support the need to transform how we deliver care.
"The plan gives us a very clear direction for the future and is very much in line with our vision for excellence and our strategic plans for STSFT.
"While people may know us best for the hospitals we run, the vast majority of care we offer is already happening out in our communities.
"In recent years we've also had a huge focus on helping people improve their health and shared information in a clear, understandable way. This plays a large part in prevention.
"We've also had a great focus on how we use digital innovation to improve patient care and our teams are already using Artificial Intelligence to help diagnose cancers and other illnesses sooner.
"These tools and other technology are only going to become more useful as we look to the future."
