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QE NewsThe magazine for QE Gateshead

January 2015

Behind the scenes at the Queen Elizabeth

pg 6 How you get around is changing

Grandmother encourages staff to get their flu jabs

pg 3

pg 12

Emergency Care Centre - Coming soon! pg 2

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This month we are celebrating a decade of success by marking the 10th anniversary of QE Gateshead becoming an NHS Foundation Trust.

This is an important milestone for us and the last ten years have seen some major achievements for the hospital, which is one of only nine nationally to have been consistently rated as a band 6 hospital – the highest possible grade - by the national regulator the CQC (Care Quality Commission).

Over the past ten years the QE has recruited more than 15,000 people as members and 79 as governors who have had a direct influence on the running and development of the hospital and how it provides services to local people.

Without our members and governors none of these achievements would have been possible and I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has been elected or volunteered over the past decade – you have made a huge, positive difference to the lives of many people in Gateshead.

There have been many high points including: the development of a cutting edge surgery centre, a growing reputation for breast screening and excellence in women’s cancers, becoming a screening hub for AAA/Bowel Cancer, advances in laparoscopic surgery, a new clinical skills training centre and one of the best maternity units in the country.

It’s been an amazing ten years for the Trust and the improvements that we’ve been able to make for patients. All the achievements of the past ten years are testament to the hard work of our staff, members, governors and

everyone involved in running the hospital.

It’s fitting that this year we’re able to open two more fantastic new facilities here at the QE for the people of Gateshead following on from all of the other new facilities and service developments which Foundation Trust status has enabled us to put in place over the past ten years.

Work is now almost complete on the exciting £32m Emergency Care Centre which will provide an amazing new building for people in Gateshead. It will be a unique hospital building and the environment for patients and visitors will really be something special. This is a very exciting time for the QE because our plans for the future are starting to become a reality.

The start of 2015 marks the beginning of an exciting new era for healthcare in Gateshead, thank you for being a part of it.

Welcome

News in briefPatient , Don McGee and his wife Mitzi renewed their wedding vows at the QE hospital on ward 23 after 60 years togetherMitzi said: “We had a party all planned at the civic centre, but Don fell ill a couple of weeks beforehand. The doctor told us that he may not pull through, and that was when one of the nurses, Tracey, suggested getting the hospital Chaplain to renew our vows. And it was such a lovely service, most of our children were able to make it, it was really special.”

Jonathan Perry, QE Gateshead Chaplain said: “It was a pleasure to conduct the service for Don and Mitzi. Occasions such as these are important landmarks in our lives. They remind us of who we are; what we have achieved and what is important to us. It is good to celebrate and enjoy them.”

The couple met aged 18 dancing at the old Oxford Dance Hall in Newcastle. Mitzi said: “I knew he was the one for me when I wore my new shoes to a dance and got the most terrible blister, he picked me right up and carried me all the way through Newcastle!”

When asked what the best thing about being married to Mitzi was, Don said: “Always being together, that’s the best. Love is all you need really.”

Check out our path lab virtual tour We’ve made a virtual 360 degree tour of our Pathology lab to give you an insight into where our real life CSI team spend their day.

They work hard to not only help diagnose and monitor the illnesses of our patients but also to look after the wider population by carrying out preventative tests for cervical screening, cholesterol testing and bowel cancer screening amongst other things!

QE News not enough for you?Still need a fix of news from QE Gateshead?

We have a monthly electronic newsletter with all the latest information about what’s happening around the Trust. If you’d like to sign up you can visit http://goo.gl/Sk92NK Ian Renwick

Welcome to the January edition of your foundation trust membership magazine

Chief executive, Ian Renwick

It’s been an amazing ten years for the Trust.

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Charitable funds

QECharitable Funds

GATESHEAD

In the last three months, the charity received almost £23,000 from fundraising for causes across the hospital. Our cancer services, wards, critical care, maternity, special care baby unit and St Bede’s palliative care unit in particular attract a lot of support.

Our staff get involved too. A team of staff took part in the Great North Run as Team

QE, raising more than £2,000 for our critical care and cardiac rehab patients. A number of people ran for our hospital - if this is something you are interested in doing next year, please get in touch – we would love to hear from you! We are also excited that local cricketing hero Graham Onions has chosen our special care baby unit as one of four charities for his benefit year. Graham and his

wife Emma’s son Olly spent time on the unit when he was born two years ago.

We have been humbled by the fundraising efforts of Kelly Watson. Kelly is just 41 and has dementia and is a regular user of the services at the Woodside Centre, the QE’s specialist unit for younger people with dementia. She and her family raised more than £1,600 for the unit – which will go towards developing a community café for service users and their friends and families.

If you would like to get involved with fundraising for the QE, please contact our charity office on 0191 445 6451 or visit www.qegatesheadcharitablefunds.org.uk. You can keep up to date on our Facebook page (search for QE Gateshead Charitable Funds) or on Twitter by following @QEfunds.

We’re encouraging all of our staff to get their flu vaccine to protect you, our patients. One mum from Newton Aycliffe, in County Durham, has more reason than most to encourage others. 57 year-old Kim Hannant, lost her 21-year-old daughter Nikki Westgarth, just four days after giving birth to her daughter Eva Rose Westgarth-Burrell and is teaming up with the QE to encourage others to get their vaccines.

Nikki who also leaves behind a four-year-old son Jake Grimes, died after contracting flu whilst pregnant with her daughter, leaving her family including dad Gary Westgarth and step dad 49-year-old Ian Hannant grief-stricken.

Kim said: “It started at Christmas last year, she’d been feeling tired and a bit run down, and we just attributed it to her being pregnant. Then just after New Year, the whole family came down with the flu. I have asthma and I’ve had my jab for the last ten years, so didn’t suffer as much as everybody else. Nikki lived next door to us, and she came in and complained that she felt like she was dying, eventually she ended up being admitted to hospital. Nikki took a turn for the worse and was in critical care for two weeks when doctors

there arranged to have her transported to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester to give birth to Eva Rose with specialist support. During her time in critical care she turned 21. She briefly came round from life support and was given a caesarean section to deliver Eva as she was suffering pre-eclampsia.

She never got to see Eva Rose before she died, as she was so ill. Four days later on February 8th, whilst I was away from the hospital resting, I was called back. When I got there, the nurses told me that Nikki’s heart had stopped, we’d lost our little girl.

“We’re working with QE Gateshead to

tell Nikki’s story, because if it saves even one person, and saves one family from going through what we went through then her death wasn’t for nothing. I had to watch my daughter die, please don’t put your loved ones through that, flu is

not just a mild seasonal illness, it’s a killer. Get your jab, whether you’re in one of the traditional at risk groups or not. There’s lots of scaremongering but the vaccine is safe and you can’t catch flu from it. Who knows what would have happened if Nikki had hers.”

Amanda Brown, a midwife at QE Gateshead who always gets her flu jab, and has even delivered vaccines to her colleagues said: “It’s really important, especially where I work in maternity to protect my mums. I’d advise all healthcare workers to get their jab. It doesn’t take long, it doesn’t hurt and you can save the lives of not just your patients, but your

colleagues and family.”

In 2012/13 we vaccinated 45.9% of our frontline staff and in 2013/14 we vaccinated 62.8%. This year we’re hoping to achieve the national target of vaccinating 75% of our frontline staff, helping to protect our patients, each other and our families.

Mum who loses daughter to flu, four days after giving birth, urges others to get their flu jab

Kim Hannant with grandaughter

Eva Rose and grandson Jake

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Your health – liver

Let’s talk about… Liver diseaseDid you know, liver disease is now the fifth most common cause of death in the United Kingdom?

In 2012-13 there were 450 preventable deaths associated with lifestyle behaviours, (smoking and alcohol excess for example) in Gateshead, and of those 450, 9% were as a result of liver disease.

Love your Liver!

Your liver is the body’s factory which carries out hundreds of jobs every day that are vital to maintaining good health, it is an exceptional organ that can even function when damaged, and has the remarkable ability up to a point to even repair itself.

Liver disease is largely preventable, the three biggest causes of liver disease are:

• drinking too much alcohol

• being overweight

• Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, which patients could have had from birth or acquired (for example drug use involving needles) both of which can be treated if detected by simple screening tests. In case of Hepatitis B, it can be prevented through vaccination, in people at risk

There are some rarer causes of liver disease,

around 5% that cannot be prevented, but that can be helped with specific treatments if detected early enough.

In Gateshead we have a dedicated team of seven consultants, medical staff and nurses who care for people who have liver disease. We’re doing lots of work at QE Gateshead to try and shrink those preventable deaths from liver disease, by making people aware of the symptoms and how they can get help. We also screen all of our inpatients (patient staying overnight) when they come in to try and catch the liver disease early, asking patients about their lifestyle choices and if there’s anything we can do to help prevent it. The early symptoms of liver disease can be very generic so don’t be alarmed if some of these apply to you, but do speak to your GP if you think your lifestyle may put you at risk:

• fatigue

• jaundice

• abdominal and leg swelling

• bruising easily

The good news is that if liver disease is caught early enough, it may be reversible so don’t be scared to get help. The liver team also includes:

• An alcohol team who provide support to people who may be drinking

too much alcohol, or want advice regarding safe levels, they visit the wards every day.

• A liver nurse who supports people with a variety of liver diseases, including people who have liver cirrhosis.

The team are always looking at ways to improve services for patients who have liver disease and they have successfully developed a local viral Hepatitis treatment service which means that patients no longer have to travel to Newcastle Hospitals for treatment, they can be treated at locations closer to home including the QE Hospital.

If you have any concerns at all about your liver health, you can always speak to your GP in the first instance.

The early symptoms of liver disease can be very generic so don’t be alarmed if some of these apply to you.

The QE Hospital's liver team

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Spotlight on maintenance

Here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead we are always looking into new ‘green’ ideas and initiatives to help reduce our carbon footprint. As a result we can proudly say that we’ve reduced our carbon emissions by 15% from our 2007 baseline, meeting the Government’s 2015 target.

However the hard work doesn’t stop here. The next target we need to hit is a reduction of 34% in our carbon emissions by 2020 and for that; we’re going to need your help. To help us reduce our emissions there are some things you can do when you come to our hospital:

• Public Transport – could you use the bus to visit the hospital instead of driving? There are around fifteen bus services that stop at the QE Hospital and public transport is great value for money.

• Walk/Cycle – when possible if you can walk or cycle to the hospital please take the opportunity; not only are you improving your health and wellbeing through exercise you’re helping reduce emissions.

• Energy - As a patient please think do you need to charge your phone? Are you watching TV? Do the lights need to be

on? Switch off not standby!

• Water – don’t leave taps running unnecessarily. Switch off and help save water!

• Waste – please ensure you put your rubbish in the correct bin, recycle where possible and if you have any doubts ask a member of staff.

Finally please report faults - If you notice any problem such as a leaky tap please inform our staff so they can report it. Let’s work together to help save the environment! For more information please visit: www.qegateshead.nhs.uk/environment

You could visit the QE Hospital every week for the rest of your life and not be aware of the whole other city that exists behind locked doors and under the buildings. Here we give you a quick sneak peek into secret life at the QE with Steve Hancock, Hospital Engineer.

Steve said: “I like to think of the Queen Elizabeth as being similar to an iceberg, what patients see when they come to the hospital is just a tiny portion of what goes on behind the scenes to make sure their stay with us is a happy and comfortable one. We also ensure staff have hot water to wash their hands and adequate lighting to see by and maintain a pneumatic tube system we help to facilitate speedy pathology results amongst other things!

“Underneath most parts of the hospital is a vast network of corridors which house our heating systems, and even the medical gas supplies for our theatres/wards. In QE Facilities, we’re always looking for the most efficient ways of working and this includes making sure nothing goes to waste. Like broken theatre lights. We’ve kept this one for spare parts, so if something breaks on a lamp that’s in use, we’ve normally got the parts stored for a speedy repair.”

The maintenance team is also in charge of maintaining the complex pod system. This is used to quickly transport samples from the wards such as urine or blood to our pathology department ensuring a much faster diagnosis for patients. The samples are placed in the little red pod and then it’s transported around via a

series of vacuum tubes which will move the pod to pathology.

Steve said: “We’re responsible for making sure that the departments that need it, like theatres and wards, have a continuous supply of medical gases. We store our medical oxygen is this huge tank. The valves are always covered in ice/frozen because of the extremely low temperature of liquid oxygen. Once it’s taken out of this tank it’s warmed ready for delivery and patient use.

“We’ve been upgrading our boiler systems to make sure they are the most energy efficient we can make them. Their main job is to keep everyone warm and make sure that they have a constant supply of hot water. It’s an absolutely vast system behind the scenes which provides these services and there are signs of it everywhere on the site like the vents on our roofs and the visible, interconnecting pipe work.”

Behind the scenes with our Maintenance team

Climate change is one of greatest threats to our health and well-being

Oxygen store

Corridor underneath hospital

Steve, left, with other facilities staff Sarah and Norman

Broken theatre lamp which is used for spares

Frozen taps on the oxygen store

The pod system

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NHS QE Gateshead has not vetted the advertisers in this publication and accepts no liability for

work done or goods supplied by any advertiser. Nor does NHS QE Gateshead endorse any of the

products or services.

Every possible care has been taken to ensure that the information given in this publication is accurate. Whilst the publisher would be grateful to learn of any errors, it cannot accept any liability over and above the cost of the advertisement for loss there by caused. Octagon Design & Marketing Ltd has not vetted the advertisers

in this publication and accepts no liability for work done or goods supplied by any advertiser. Nor does Octagon Design & Marketing Ltd endorse any of the products or services. No reproduction by any method whatsoever of any part of this publication is permitted without prior written consent of the copyright owners.

Octagon Design & Marketing Ltd. ©2015. Britannic Chambers, 8a Carlton Road, Worksop, Notts. S80 1PH. Tel: 01909 478822

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Thank you so much to those who responded to our survey about QE News which was advertised in September’s issue. 99 people responded to our survey, where we asked questions like how many issues would you like to see each year and what sort of content would you like to see in the magazine.

• You told us, we were getting it right with three issues per year, with a majority of 40% of you telling us that three was the amount you preferred to receive.

• When we asked if three issues per year was enough to be kept up to date with news in the hospital 60% of you said it was enough, but 35% of you said you’d like to see more.

• You’re a very engaged bunch! 71% of the people who responded, receive their QE News electronically, so 31% of you receive a hard copy and still took the time to come online to take part in our survey.

• You also showed you’re interested in what we have to say with 67% of people saying that they read every issue and only 3% saying they never read it.

• Only 16 people out of 99 said they don’t read it very often or never, and they said the biggest barrier for them was not having the time with only 2 people saying it was because it wasn’t interesting enough

• When asked what they wanted to see in QE Weekly, 70% of people responded with spotlight on a department/service which we already do, so we’re glad to hear you’re enjoying these features

• 70% of people said they would like to see more features on a particular health issue so we’ve incorporated this feature into this issue with the liver services article on page four and will continue to do so throughout 2015.

Thank you all for reading!

You said we did…How we acted on your feedback

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Membership

Membership Office contact informationGateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust Membership Office can be contacted

by post to:

FREEPOST NAT14353

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust Queen Elizabeth Hospital Sheriff Hill Gateshead NE9 6BR

on 0191 445 3713 (voicemail available out of working hours)

or via email to foundation.enquiries@ghnt.nhs.uk

Calendar of eventsBoard of Directors’ Meeting

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 9.30 am

Medicine for Members - Pathology

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital from 6.15 pm to 8.00 pm

Registration opens at 5.30 pm where a light buffet will also be served

Come along and find out more about the work carried out at the Pathology Centre for Excellence at the QE

Council of Governors’ Meeting

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 10.00 am

Board of Directors’ Meeting

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 9.30 am

JAN

28APRIL

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APRIL

22

MAY

20

JUNE

17

FEB

18

FEB

25

MARCH

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Medicine for Members - Asthma

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital from 6.15 pm to 8.00 pm

Registration opens at 5.30 pm where a light buffet will also be served. Come along and find out more about asthma including symptoms and diagnosis, and treatment and services at the QE

Board of Directors’ Meeting

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 9.30am

Council of Governors’ Meeting

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 10.00 am

Medicine for Members – Emergency Care

Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital from 6.15 pm to 8.00 pm. Registration opens at 5.30 pm where a light buffet will also be served. Come along and find out more about Emergency Care at the QE

Following the close of the elections at the end of December 2014, all but one of the seats was filled and the new governors began their terms of office on 5th January 2015.

Mary Summers was successfully re-elected for another three year term to represent the Western constituency. She said “I am delighted to be re-elected for a further three years so that I can continue to be involved in bringing to the residents of Western Gateshead information on the excellent services available, and the new and exciting developments taking place at our local hospital the Queen Elizabeth. I shall be available to listen to comments on the services at the hospital and bring them to the Council of Governors.”

Welcome back to Jim Holmes, Central,

who returns to the Council of Governors after a year’s break for another three years. Welcome also to Carol Hope, Western and Janice Wailes, Central who were both elected for three years.

Congratulations also go to Ian Stafford who was re-elected as a staff governor for a further three years. We also welcome Gillian Coulthard, Paula MacGregor and Helen McKee to the staff constituency.

We would like to give our thanks to Tom Bryden, public governor for Western and Anna Ellinson, public governor for Central who both didn’t stand for re-election. We wish them the best of luck for the future.

All other governors remain unchanged. The Trust would also like to thank those members who stood for election but who were unsuccessful. We do hope that

they will continue to support the Trust’s membership and perhaps stand for election again in the future.

If you would like to contact any of the governors, please contact the Membership Office on 0191 4453713 or by email to governors@ghnt.nhs.uk

Election resultsback row L-R Mary Summers (Western), Paula MacGregor (Staff), Helen McKee (Staff) and Carol Hope (Western), front row L-R Gillian Coulthard (Staff), Jim Holmes (Central) and Janice Wailes (Central)

Do you have any family or friends who would like to become a member? If yes, it’s easy for them to join.

They can either complete the membership application form online at http://www.qegateshead.nhs.uk/apply or contact the Membership Office direct for an application form. This can be done by telephoning 0191 4453713 or sending an email to foundation.enquiries@ghnt.nhs.uk

Once their completed application form is received, we will confirm their membership and send out a membership card.

Go on – why not introduce a friend today!

Introduce a friend

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Membership

Governors will be attending various events throughout the year to ask for views from local people. Recently they have attended Eighton Banks Townswomen’s Guild, Friends of Winlaton Village, St Peter’s Church in Low Fell, Olaff Club in Washington Village, Blenheim Court and Gateshead U3A Local History Group to talk about developments at the hospital and the new Emergency Care Centre.

Governors are always keen to increase their engagement, and would love to come to your place of work or worship, your school or college, or your group or society to talk to you. We need to hear your questions and concerns, comments and compliments, or talk about specific areas of interest. Governors are equally happy to hear from individuals too. Please contact Debbie Atkinson, Trust Secretary on 0191 4453712 or via email to debbie.atkinson@ghnt.nhs.uk for further information or email governors@ghnt.nhs.uk to contact any of the Trust’s governors.

Work of the governors

An event was held in November 2014 which brought together members, patients and professionals to listen to opinions and understand how the QE ensures that Musculoskeletal (MSK) services continue to improve.

A team including orthopaedics, rheumatology staff, GPs, physiotherapists and a range of support services have been working together with agencies from the voluntary sector, to consider how services are currently offered to people with musculoskeletal conditions in Gateshead, and how they can be improved.

The event was a real success attracting more than 40 people with a range of conditions

and experiences.

Much has been learned from the engagement event and the teams involved will continue to work closely with the public to ensure that the QE provides the best possible approach to these issues in the future.

Musculoskeletal event a real success

The Trust’s Staff Awards “Celebrating our Staff” is an annual event, now in its second year. The event aims to recognise the things that our staff do that goes above and beyond what would normally be expected from them in the normal course of their work. The patient award is nominated by patients or relatives, and acknowledges a person or team who through their excellent

care and approach made a significant impact to the care of the patient.

Would you like to nominate someone who has really made a difference to your care, or to the care of one of your relatives? If you do, contact us and we can send you a nomination form. Judging takes place every March, with nominations that have been received up until the 28th February

being considered. Any nominations that are received after 28th February will be carried forward for consideration the following year.

Please help us recognise, celebrate and thank those staff who have made a difference to your experience of QE Gateshead by contacting odandtraining@ghnt.nhs.uk or calling 0191 445 5412 and asking for a patient nomination form.

Nominate a staff member for a Patient Award

As a member you should have received a membership card.

You can use this card to receive discount in the restaurants at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Bensham Hospital.

If you haven’t got a membership card and would like to request one please contact the Membership Office.

Membership card

Members can receive their copy of QE News either by post, by email or by accessing a copy on the Trust’s website.

Over 1,400 members have supplied the Membership Office with an email address. However, a number of these emails are no longer in use. If you have supplied us with an email address and it needs updating, please let the Membership Office know.

If however, you would like to receive a posted copy of the newsletter, then please contact the Membership Office to request this.

Keep your details up to date

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QE NewsThe magazine for QE Gateshead

January 2015

Behind the scenes at the Queen Elizabeth

pg 6 How you get around is changing

Grandmother encourages staff to get their flu jabs

pg 3

pg 12

Emergency Care Centre - Coming soon! pg 2

11

This month the QE marked its ten year anniversary of becoming an NHS Foundation Trust, by celebrating a decade of success through the favourite memories its patients and members.

We became a Foundation Trust on January 5, 2005, and since then we have seen a range of developments and achievements, including continually being rated as a band six hospital – the highest grade possible in terms of safety – by the national regulator the CQC (Care Quality Commission).

The Foundation Trust status allows more local control, encouraging people from the area to get involved in the running of their hospital. Over the past ten years the trust has recruited more than 15,000 members and 79 governors who have had a direct influence on the running and development of the hospital.

The QE hosted a lunch for board members and governors past and present with a buffet and some giant cupcakes donated to the Trust by Greggs, which were shared with staff across departments and wards. The lunch celebrated a decade of hard work and dedication, showcased by photo highlights from this time shown in the hospital’s restaurant and on their dedicated ten year anniversary Pinterest board which you can see by visiting www.pinterest.com/qegateshead.

To commemorate the anniversary, we’re asking for people to share their favourite memories of the QE over the past ten years on our Facebook page which you can find at www.facebook.com/qegateshead

Julia Hickey, Chairman of QE Gateshead, said: “We are all very proud of what has been achieved in the last decade here at the QE Gateshead, and it’s set to get even better from here. The new Emergency Care Centre and new pathology building are fantastic facilities for the people of Gateshead, after all, it is our

thriving link with the local community that has been crucial to our success.

“We want to thank our governors and members for playing such an important role in helping to make the NHS work so well for our patients in Gateshead, and being able to share members’ and patients’ favourite memories of the fantastic care here is testament to all of their hard work.”

NHS Foundation Trusts are freer from central control and are better able to develop services to suit the needs of their local community. They are still part of the NHS family and continue to be subject to NHS quality standards, performance ratings and systems of inspection.

Most importantly, these Trusts are accountable to staff and local people through members and an elected council of governors, that will work closely with the Trust’s board of directors to influence decision making and strategic planning.

QE Celebrates 10th BirthdayMembership

Chairman Julia Hickey cuts one of the celebration cakes donated by Greggs

Julia thanks staff and governors for the part they played in the trust becoming an FT

Some of our favourite memories from the past ten years

Governors and staff both past and

present, sign our poster to say they’ve

been part of our FT journey

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Membership

With the opening of our emergency care centre, we’ve been able to make sure that the majority of patients can access where they need to be through this new main entrance. By breaking walls through from the new building to connect to the old one means lots of the most used departments are all at the front of the hospital, meaning patients have less distance to walk from the new main entrance.

With the reshuffles of departments a lot of our old external buildings will be getting knocked down to make room for even more patient car parking right next to the main entrance.

We’ve split the hospital into six different coloured zones, blue, orange, red, purple, yellow and green.

You told us that coming into hospital, particularly if you’ve never been before can be confusing so we wanted to offer a simple system to be able to find where you need to go.

You may have noticed that only levels two and three are included on the zone map above, level one is what we class as our behind the scenes the level, linen services, supplies, deliveries etc so you hopefully shouldn’t see too much of that on your visit!

There are also some of our buildings that are not connected to the main hospital which are not on the map, those include:

• Maternity

• Women’s health

• Trust HQ

• Sunniside

• St Bede’s

There are maps available to direct you to these buildings from our car parks and entrances at www.qegateshead.nhs.uk/parking

Appointment letters will include better instructions for getting to the department you need including which zone.

To read the full list of departments in each zone you can go to www.qegateshead.nhs.uk/qe

New hospital maps