'Patient care is at the heart of all that we do'

A LEADING North East hospital trust has been named the best in the country for cancer care by its own patients.

- By SAM VOLPE

The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust which runs hospitals across Northumberland and North Tyneside - has been rated highly by people who had cancer care during 2024 in a national survey.

The annual National Cancer Patient Experience Survey asks those who have had care for any form of the illness in 2024 to rate a range of aspects of their care including their overall satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. In total, the Northumbria Healthcare trust scored 9.36 on average from 466 responses.

The England average was 8.94 meaning that all five of the North East's NHS hospital trusts did better than their peers nationally.

Elsewhere in the region, the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust received an average score of 9.04 (from 532 responses), Gateshead Healthcare NHS Trust got 9.24 (from 413), South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust got 9.05 (from 866) and the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust 8.99 (from 1,204).