Andy McDonald says NHS in the North East is ‘groundbreaking’

Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough, praised Teesside University for its School of Health and Life Sciences, including its new £36.9 million BIOS facility.

The school currently has almost 10,000 students enrolled in its undergraduate, postgraduate, professional development and diploma courses – 80 per cent of whom are from Teesside.

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It provides free dentistry with a variety of treatments to people across Teesside, with the facility approved by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Mr McDonald said the school could be a “game changer” for both his constituency and the NHS and that excited him.

He said: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that what’s going on at Teesside University in the School of Health and Life Sciences is a game-changer for both the people of Middlesbrough and our National Health Service could mean.”

“The fact that such an amazing number of people – and 80 per cent of them are local – are currently being trained in such important health disciplines here on Teesside is fantastic.”

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“It’s amazing to think that with the university’s work and pioneering partnerships, Middlesbrough and its people can play a central role in making the NHS fit for the future.”

“Professor Thompson’s ambition is both inspiring and phenomenal and the ground-breaking opportunity to study medicine on Teesside is hugely exciting. I’m blown away.”

The new state-of-the-art BIOS facility will provide high quality, state-of-the-art laboratories for natural sciences and clinical disciplines, including anatomy, pharmacy, microbiology, chemistry, earth sciences and food sciences.

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Professor Tim Thompson said of the facility: “This is an incredibly exciting development for our school and the university.”

“We always strive to meet the requirements of regional and national employers. BIOS will help us provide more modern, flexible and digitalized learning spaces to train the next generation of healthcare professionals and create a compassionate, forward-thinking and inclusive learning environment.

“It will also allow us to bring together the delivery of health and humanities subjects, providing a holistic view of the healthcare and life sciences ecosystem.”