A health research department has been launched at the University of Teesside.

The Department for Emergency Medicine will be based at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

"This new department will complement the school's increasing research profile as well as enhancing education and training developments across the field of emergency care," said Paul Keane, director of the university's School of Health and Social Care.

"The school is already working closely with the Strategic Health Authority in preparing practitioners for new roles in emergency care."

The launch, by vice-chancellor Professor Graham Henderson, is part of the Teesside Trauma Conference: Head and Spinal Injury.

It aims to share good practices in emergency care and will be attended by doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists from across the region.