Northumbria NHS Trust to provide home care services and create up to 250 jobs

The Trust already provides hospital and community services in the area, but is now establishing additional home care provision.

At a time when understanding about the need for seamless integration of health and care services has never been higher, Northumbria Healthcare has outlined its proposal to provide domiciliary services while also considering the development of care homes.

This pioneering and important step – a first for an NHS organisation – will see it working with existing care providers to ensure that the system works as well as it can for communities in the area.

A recruitment process has just started for the first wave of 25 staff, including a manager to oversee the delivery of home care services.

Northumbria Healthcare’s chief executive, Sir James Mackey, said: “Our colleagues in the care sector have worked as hard as our teams in the NHS during a period of unprecedented pressure through the Covid-19 pandemic, and we thank them for their efforts.

“However, we know that there is unmet demand in our communities, which is unsurprising given the growing need nationally for more social care provision.

"Therefore, an opportunity has arisen for us to use our expertise to help support the care sector in Northumberland and North Tyneside.

“Having effective social care services is vital to the entire health system, because to allow the region’s hospitals to cope with the demand from new patients coming in, we need to be able to move on those patients who no longer need hospital care in order to free up beds.

“Through our new service, we can boost the system by adding further provision, ensuring that more people in need of home care can be allocated the support they need through the usual processes.

"As always, our focus will be on quality and making sure that these services are completely tailored to the needs of the people who use them, and also being first-class services to work in.”

The new roles, which will be advertised shortly, are a unique chance for people to develop their careers, at a time when the Trust is moving ahead with its ambition for the Northumbria Health and Care Academy, a training centre of excellence, which received planning permission before Christmas.

The jobs come with full NHS terms and conditions of service (Agenda for Change), provide access to NHS discounts, and offer the chance of a career pathway.

Sir James added: “This exciting development supports Our Community Promise – our commitment to do even more to support our population – as it will create new jobs, support education and training for carers, and open up further employment opportunities, for example, apprenticeships.

“The first posts that are now on offer are your chance to join us on our journey as we become part of a crucial system and provide the high-quality care that the people of Northumberland and North Tyneside deserve.”

The Trust expects to have its home care offer up and running in the first three months of 2022, which could be followed by care home provision later in the year.

Support your Gazette and become a subscriber today.

With a digital subscription you get access to the ad-lite version of our website, meaning you see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times and get all of the headlines you need with fewer distractions.

The Northumberland Gazette has been serving the county since 1854, and your support means we can continue telling your stories for generations to come.

Click here to subscribe.