HOSPITAL bosses in the region have launched a mass recruitment drive for operating theatre nurses

The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – which runs hospitals in North Tyneside and Northumberland - is investing more than £700,000 in the creation of over 40 new nursing and technical theatre jobs.

The trust is expanding its theatre workforce in preparation for the opening of the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital at Cramlington, Northumberland in 2015.

Successful recruits will work in state-of-the-art operating theatres and as part of a model of care that is being hailed nationally by NHS leaders.

The investment in local nursing jobs forms a key part of planning for the opening of the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital where emergency surgery will take place from 2015, with all planned operations taking place at Hexham, North Tyneside and Wansbeck general hospitals.

Northumbria Healthcare treats over 40,000 surgical patients every single year – those having planned operations and people in need of emergency surgical care.

The trust’s operating theatre teams include surgeons, anaesthetists, specialist theatre nurses, operating department practitioners, plaster technicians and surgeon’s assistants.

This new model of care is in line with recommendations made by Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, with Northumbria Healthcare leading the way nationally in the NHS.

For more information visit .northumbria.nhs.uk/theatrenurses.