Milburn calls for barriers to come down at the opening of new University health building

Health Secretary Alan Milburn used the official opening of the University of Teesside’s new £8m School of Health building to signal the urgent need to break down the barriers between NHS services and staff.

Speaking at the opening of the University’s Centuria Building in Middlesbrough – which provides education and teaching for nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiographers and social care workers – Mr Milburn said Teesside University was making an important contribution to the expansion of the NHS.

The School of Health is now the biggest academic department at the University, with over 4,000 students. It is a partnership site for the Government's new 'Making a Difference' undergraduate nursing programme and it was awarded two excellent teaching quality assessment earlier this year. These were for Nursing & Midwifery and Professions Allied to Medicine and were awarded by the Higher Education Quality Assurance Agency.

At the official opening of the Centuria Building on November 3, Mr Milburn spoke of the need to invest in the future of the health service, particularly in regions like the North East of England which have higher than average levels of ill health. He also stressed the necessity to give patients faster, more seamless care, “where they are not passed from pillar to post around the health care system”.

He said: “Above all else, we have to recognise that our health and social care system is exactly that: One system, working together in co-operation and partnership…and that barriers which exist between services and between staff have to be broken down if patients are to benefit from the faster and the more convenient health care that surely we should be able to deliver in this 21st Century.”

Mr Milburn went on to praise the way the School of Health has come to symbolise “the partnership approach we need to see, not just in some parts of the health service, but across the whole health service” and congratulated the way the University and Durham and Teesside Education and Training Consortium were fostering ever closer partnerships.

“Well trained and well motivated staff are the life blood of the modern health service that our country needs. So the work that you do here in the School of Health could not be more vital. Your were already at the leading edge of modern nursing education and I know in this new building you will continue to promote innovation and new thinking; not only for nurses, but also for midwives, therapists, professions allied to medicine and other areas of health and social care,” said Mr Milburn.

Professor Derek Fraser, the University's Vice-Chancellor, said he was delighted the Secretary of State for Health had agreed to open the new health building, saying: "It marks a very important milestone in the University's redevelopment strategy. (See Notes to Editors). Mr Ken Jarrold, Chairman of the Durham and Teesside Education and Training Consortium, thanked the Secretary of State for taking time out of his busy schedule to celebrate the opening of the Centuria Building and all it represents, and for the the NHS Plan, which he described as “the strongest and most comprehensive policy framework that the NHS has ever had.”

He ended by thanking the Secretary of State for the money for what he called “nothing less than the transformation and rebirth of the National health Service,” adding: “This building and the extra student places are an early and very important indication of what money can buy.”

Mr Paul Keane, Director of the School of Health, thanked all those involved in the realisation of this splendid building, saying: “We now have the opportunity within this environment to really challenge and question roles and boundaries. Our competency based curriculum can be further enhanced by the additional skills and information technology laboratories in this new building.”

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