RESEARCHERS into ageing have unveiled their vision of how the North-East will pioneer a radical way of treating elderly people.

The ultimate aim is to provide a centre where illnesses and conditions can be tackled by specialist doctors and nurses.

Such a centre would have no equivalent in the developed world and could become a model for care.

Researchers at Newcastle University also aim to make such significant advances in understanding ageing and disease that many conditions can be prevented or diagnosed much earlier.

The overall aim is to make Britain's rapidly ageing population healthier.

Professor Tom Kirkwood, director of Newcastle University's world-leading Institute for Ageing and Health, was speaking at the opening of the £8m Edwardson Building research unit, at Newcastle General Hospital.

The building, named after Professor Jim Edwardson, who led a North-East team that made significant discoveries regarding dementia and other brain disorders, is also a key part of the plan to make Newcastle a Science City.

Prof Kirkwood said: "What we want to do on this site is pilot radical new ways of delivering medical care for older people.

"The idea is that people are seen by a number of different specialists. It is a very new and exciting approach which is called themed assessment."

The Edwardson building contains modern research facilities, including an advanced PET scanner and a super-MRI scanner.

It was opened by Minister for the North-East, Nick Brown MP.

Prof Edwardson, accompanied by his daughter, Abigail, and grandson, Joshua, planted a tree to mark the opening. He said: "When our vision is fully achieved here in Newcastle, there will be nothing like it in the world."

The building is the sixth to be opened as part of the rapid expansion of the Institute for Ageing and Health in the past ten years.

The building is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Newcastle University and the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

Research is being funded by the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the UK Research Councils.