Peter and myself had another productive meeting with a local NHS Trust this week.

As many of you will be aware, Northumbria NHS Trust are currently building a new emergency care hospital (inc A&E provision) in Cramlington. This of course has big implications for transport across the Trust as a whole, and we are therefore well placed to offer our services as part of the restructure that they will be undertaking.

It is likely that NBB will be invited to give a presentation to the Trust in the near future, in particular to the committee responsible for tackling the transport issues they will be facing, so we really are getting are getting in right at the outset. The new hospital isn't due to open until June 2015, so big changes won't happen immediately, but that just gives us time to scale up to the challenges that such a large trust will present. With general hospitals as far apart as Whitley Bay, Hexham and Ashington, and community hospitals as far north as Berwick, the scope for us to really provide a great service to the NHS is fantastic.

We also found out some information on the MHRA training that we will all need to undergo. This is a legal requirement (under the Blood Safety & Quality Regulations 2005) for anybody handling blood products - the good news is that it is not a huge commitment of time, and we have a potential solution (suggested by Northumbria Trust) as to how this may be delivered - more on this as we get it confirmed.

Trust you're all well, and making good progress towards your advanced riding qualification (if you don't already have it), and hopefully see you out and about soon.