Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust held its biggest-ever open day weekend on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th October at the QE Hospital.
Across the two days, Gateshead welcomed over 450 staff and members of the public, giving them an insight to the life of an NHS hospital. NHS staff held information stalls and demonstrations for colleagues and the public to learn about the fantastic work that goes on behind the scenes at the hospital.
The stalls were run by various departments including maternity, critical care, community services, breast screening, corporate services, staff networks and many more – including the hospital’s charity, QE Charitable Funds.
Each stall provided information, demonstrations and advice to help raise awareness of services but to also showcase the range of career paths that is available within the NHS.
On day two, the Trust was joined by over 170 members of the public where families and children enjoyed face painting, arts and crafts, henna tattoos and dance demonstrations by GemArts.
Yvonne Ormston, MBE, chief executive at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, said “We are delighted to have welcomed so many people to our open day and to see so many of our local community engage with our fantastic NHS staff. We hope to do more of these events in the future and continue to engage with our local community so that we continue to help and support them whenever they need us. Thank you to everyone involved in making the event a huge success.”
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Group photo of staff at Gateshead Health NHS 
Staff Networks and Director of People and OD, Lisa Crichton-Jones and the Open Day 
Critical Care team 
Breast Screening team 
GemArts providing arts and crafts for children