James Cook NHS Hospital

22/12/2025

Feeling ill this winter?

There are a number of NHS services available to you to provide the best health care for your needs.

Choosing the right NHS service will help get you the best advice, and often more quickly too.

• Think pharmacy first
• GP
• NHS 111 online for medical help and advice
• Keep A&E free for EMERGENCIES ONLY

Help reduce pressure on A&E and other services - so they can help those who need it most.

Find pharmacy bank holiday opening hours here: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy

21/12/2025

Have you got your memorial bauble on our trees yet? 🎄

Our specialist palliative care team at James Cook have teamed up with Our Hospitals Charity to offer you the chance to remember your loved ones with a personalised memorial bauble.

Each bauble will feature a white feather and a personalised tribute and will be hung on a dedicated memorial Christmas tree at either James Cook or the Friarage. 🎄

All the money raised will support with buying items for the Dragonfly Scheme where our specialist palliative care teams provide comfort bags to patients, families and carers during their final days of life as well as memory boxes for children. 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

➡️If you would like to pay tribute to a loved one, visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/palliativecaresouthtees2025

The team requests a minimum donation of £2.50 per bauble and is accepting contributions until Christmas Eve.

➡️To read more, visit our website: https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/news/hospital-memorial-bauble-project-brings-comfort-to-patients-this-christmas/

Families across Teesside and North Yorkshire are being invited to take part in a special festive campaign to bring comfort to those affected by life-limiting illnesses this Christmas.

21/12/2025

Understanding our patients' experiences of care is important to us. It helps us improve our services to best suit their needs.

If you were treated for cancer during April, May, June 2025, you may be invited to take part in the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey. If you are invited, you will get a letter with more information. Please take part to help shape NHS services for future patients 🤝

For more information on the survey, please visit www.ncpes.co.uk

20/12/2025

Enough repeat medication to last you over the festive bank holiday?

Don’t get caught short this Christmas and New Year!

REMEMBER to order your repeat prescriptions in plenty of time.

Use the NHS App or visit your local pharmacy or GP surgery online ordering system.
👉 https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/login

Find pharmacy bank holiday opening hours here👇
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy

19/12/2025

A lovely message for our accident and emergency department at James Cook from a grateful patient 💙

19/12/2025

A new nursing education programme delivered across University Hospitals Tees has achieved its first milestone.

The joint-adult Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) training programme launched in June and has seen eleven of our internationally educated nurses (IEN) pass their OSCE exams, first time.

To help our IENs prepare for the exam, educators and leads working across our hospital group recently came together to pilot the programme.

Over the course of 12-weeks, they learnt how to navigate the complex exam in terms of format, expectations, and standards and became familiar with the layout, flow of stations and timing.

Lindsay Garcia, head of nursing for University Hospitals Tees said “The milestone of passing the exam represents the culmination of a long-term goal and they can now contribute their years of expertise to support the NHS workforce and deliver safe, effective, and high-quality nursing care to patients.”

Following the success of the pilot, there are plans to run a second cohort in 2026.

Read more:

A new nursing education programme delivered across the Tees Valley has achieved its first milestone.

19/12/2025

"Abbi has battled her condition like an absolute warrior for six and a half years, which still goes on today, making us all laugh with her wicked and sensational personality"

An inspirational patient and her family have raised over £8,000 for the neurosurgery department at James Cook Hospital to give something back to the place that provided her with compassionate care and love.

Abbi was diagnosed with a low-grade glioma, a type of brain tumour, when she had her first seizure in 2019 and had to undergo a crucial 11-hour-long surgery in the same year at James Cook with Mr Anil Varma.

Although the initial reports suggested that Abbi’s medical treatment was keeping the tumour under control, further scan reports revealed that Abbi’s tumour was transforming to a cancerous type, which did not have a cure.

But Abbi, now 31, did not let this bring her spirits down as she decided to give something back to the place that provided her with compassionate care and love.

Mr Varma said: “Abbi's fundraising will help us to further develop the surgical services available at James Cook, which includes helping us to acquire a cortical stimulator — enabling us to do awake tumour surgery — and other such specialist surgeries.”

Read more: https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/news/mum-shares-daughters-fundraising-journey-as-she-battles-incurable-cancer/

19/12/2025

We are so grateful to our local primary schools for sharing their Christmas spirit with our patients, visitors, and staff this week at James Cook.

St Alphonsus primary school, and St Bernadettes primary school teamed up with our therapeutic care team and filled our hospital corridors with music, laughter, and festive joy. Their kindness and energy brought smiles to so many faces.

19/12/2025

Make sure your festive season is un-flu-gettable!

It's still not too late to get your flu vaccination to keep you and those around you safe during the festive season.

If you're over 65, pregnant, in a clinical at-risk group, a carer, a health and social care worker, have a learning disability or live with someone who is immunosuppressed, flu vaccinations are available at your GP or local pharmacy.

https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/flu-vaccine/

18/12/2025

A period of industrial action is now underway, ending at 7am on Monday 22 December.

You will be contacted if your appointment needs to be changed. Please continue to come forward for the care you need.

For more information: https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/patients-visitors/industrial-action-updates-for-patients/

17/12/2025

Think pharmacy first!

Pharmacists can help you give advice and treatment for a range of common illnesses.

www.nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy

16/12/2025

Our specialist palliative care team has teamed up with Our Hospitals Charity to offer local families the opportunity to light up their trees with personalised memorial baubles. 🎄

Each bauble will feature a white feather and a personalised tribute and will be hung on a dedicated memorial Christmas tree at either James Cook or the Friarage.

All the money raised will go towards buying items for the Dragonfly Scheme where our specialist palliative care teams provide comfort bags to patients, families and carers during their final days of life. 👨‍👩‍👦

It will also allow them to provide memory boxes with precious keepsakes for children including books, knitted hearts, worry dolls, pocket hugs and bereavement tokens.

💬Lisa Meehan, fundraising manager for Our Hospitals Charity said: " Your contribution is more than a gift — it’s a legacy of compassion, helping others receive the same warmth and support when they need it most.”

If you would like to pay tribute to a loved one, visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/palliativecaresouthtees2025

The team requests a minimum donation of £2.50 per bauble and is accepting contributions until Christmas Eve.