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The NHS across the North East and North Cumbria is today launching a major public awareness campaign in a bid to help ease pressure on busy frontline teams and make sure people use our valuable NHS resources wisely.

South Shields Football Club gained some new fans on a visit to South Tyneside District Hospital to deliver Christmas gifts for young patients. Players and staff brought along sackfuls of toys and games – and footballs, of course – to spread festive cheer in the children’s day unit and children’s emergency department.

About 350 pupils, aged from four to 11, at St Benet’s RC Primary School, in Fulwell, have been making Christmas cards to be given to nurses and doctors who will be on duty at Sunderland Royal Hospital over the festive period.

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust has appointed a Consultant in Public Health to further its ambitions to promote healthy lifestyles, prevent disease, protect and improve general health and improve healthcare services for the local population.

Health chiefs from across the region have confirmed that emergency departments remain very busy and some patients may experience very long waits as frontline teams prioritise serious emergencies and those in greatest clinical need.