A MAJOR national medical conference on pre-hospital care is to take place in the region.

About 100 delegates including paramedics, doctors, nurses, academics and healthcare administrators are expected to attend the conference in Newcastle.

The annual 999 EMS Research Forum event brings together people with an interest in emergency care to encourage research in 999 healthcare.

The North East Ambulance Service will host the day-long at the Assembly Rooms, in Newcastle on March 1.

The conference will be introduced by NEAS Chief Executive Yvonne Ormston, and the keynote speaker will be Dr Prabath Nanayakkara from VU University Medical Centre in The Netherlands, who will be talking about research into pre-hospital management of sepsis.

Mrs Ormston said: “We are very proud of the work of our research paramedics, who work extremely hard to improve paramedic practice nationally, thereby improving the care we are able to provide to patients.

“Their efforts, combined with the support of the rest of our dedicated workforce in testing equipment and taking part in research trials, means our Trust is quite rightly considered one of the best in the UK for pre-hospital research, which is something we are very proud of.

“It is a real privilege for us to host a conference like this, attracting attention to pre-hospital research in our region".