NHS organisations in the North East have been awarded £30m to create a drugs manufacturing hub in Seaton Delaval.
The money has been granted by the NHS nationally to the region's "provider collaborative" - which involves all of the individual hospital and community care trusts in the North East. The new "aseptic unit" will produce vital medical supplies including chemotherapy drugs and local health bosses think it could save them £14m a year.
The unit will serve all eight hospital and community trust in the North East. Other products made will include injectable nutrition for people who need help feeding either in hospital or at home, as well as other intravenous drugs and cutting edge medicines for clinical trials.
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NHS bosses plan to build the site alongside Northumbria Healthcare's PPE manufacturing hub in Seaton Delaval. In October, Northumberland County Council's planning committee voted to defer a decision on an application from housebuilder Bellway to build 92 homes on adjacent land. Northumbria Healthcare had objected to this - citing the "huge potential" of the wider site.
The region’s NHS currently prepares around four million doses of aseptic - injectable - drugs each year. The new facility would be a "substantial expansion" of services and safeguard the supply of drugs for the next 20 years, the NHS said. This would be by creating a sustainable supply chain and reducing the need for commercial providers.
It will also, executives said, become a hub for learning and also potentially supply medicines beyond our region.
Ken Bremner MBE, chair of the Provider Collaborative and chief executive of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust said: "It is fantastic to secure this level of investment for the region which will significantly increase our production capacity for these vital drug treatments.
"Many of our existing aseptic units across the region are in old buildings with little room for expansion or development. This new facility means we will can achieve much greater gains in manufacturing efficiency by doing things on a much bigger scale where this makes sense. It shows what we can achieve by working together to address the key strategic issues which affect every single NHS Foundation Trust."
Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: "We are delighted to be able to support this development through the work we have already done with our PPE manufacturing hub. By thinking innovatively and at scale we have now secured the future of medicines supply for many decades to come but also helped to create more local jobs and prosperity at a time when people need it most."
And Samantha Allen, who heads up the North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) said the new facility would be "great news for the region" and "an excellent example of how we are working collectively". Detailed plans are now to be drawn up - including a projected timescale for construction.
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