A £19m centre for people with brain damage will be built in the region.
The Northern Neuro Disability Centre is to be developed at the Walkergate Hospital site, in Walker, Newcastle.
It will replace outdated facilities at Hunters Moor Hospital, Newcastle, the Janie Heppell Unit, at Prudhoe Hospital, in Northumberland, the Sanderson Centre, in Newcastle and the Hartside Service at St Nicholas Hospital, Newcastle.
The scheme is being developed by Northgate and Prudhoe NHS Trust.
It was approved at a meeting of the board of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Health Authority.
The authority also agreed funding for schemes in the community for patients with learning disabilities, in Gateshead, Northumberland and Sunderland, and funding for specialist mental health services in Newcastle.
About £10m is being invested in health centres in Newcastle and North Tyneside.
The board also agreed to make £700,000 available for schemes in the community for people with learning disabilities, who are in long-stay hospitals or who are living at home with elderly parents.
A unit for people with specialist mental health problems at St Nicholas Hospital, Newcastle, at the cost of £8.5m, was also approved.
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