The NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) has welcomed extra Government funding to help tackle waiting times for people seeking treatment for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, such as back, joint and muscle issues.
Around £200,000 will be awarded to the region which will be invested into existing community MSK services to help increase capacity to get more people treated sooner.
The money will be targeted in areas that would benefit the most from this extra support, such as County Durham and Sunderland, and could mean faster access to treatments like physiotherapy.
The funding is part of a £3.5 million package, announced to improve MSK services being shared across 17 ICBs across England.
Levi Buckley, chief delivery officer for the NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB, said: "We recognise the impact that long waits for treatment can have on our communities and the knock-on effect this can have on people's ability to work and to live their fullest life.
"So, we will be working with our service providers over the coming months to look at ways we can use this funding to reduce the waiting times for treatment but to also look at innovative ways to link in with other services to get patients the treatment they need.
"A good example of this is back pain. We know that in our region around 36,380 people attended A&E for back pain in the past two years and that many of these people are also affected by other conditions such as anxiety, depression or obesity.
"That's why it is one of the key priorities in our clinical conditions plan which sets out 12 areas we are focusing on where we know we can make the biggest impact on health in our region."
This extra funding comes on the back of exciting news earlier this month with the region being chosen as a Health and Growth Accelerator site which will place work and health coaches in GP practices and other services to offer advice, coaching and support to people when health issues become a barrier to working.
The new scheme is one of a series of initiatives in which the ICB links with other services to support deprived communities and address wider causes of ill health such as money problems, anxiety, smoking or difficulties in maintaining a healthy weight.
Other projects include work to attract more doctors, nurses and health professionals to work in deprived communities, with extra training and support, as well as offering extra support to patients with things like psychological support, opioid reduction and childhood immunisations. Meanwhile, the Make Every Contact Count programme is training NHS and DWP staff so they can take every opportunity to help patients with things like quitting smoking or getting into healthier habits.