ANOTHER North-East hospital has been added to a list of vaccination "hubs" which will take part in the first phase of the Covid jab roll-out.

It had been previously reported that only one hospital in the North-East, run by the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, had been earmarked as taking part.

A letter that had been sent to all NHS trust chief executives last month listed 50 trusts which would see hospitals become vaccination hubs.

It showed just one in the North-East, while several had been earmarked for the North-West followed by dozens in the Midlands, Southern England and London.

But it has since emerged that the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough will become a hub with jabs given from next week.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a presentation on how the vaccine would work was seen by health officials on Thursday. 

It listed The Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and James Cook as a "hospital hub" to be used during the first week of the programme.

READ MORE: Government urged to ensure North-East is among first to receive Covid vaccine

The hubs are expected to be used to deliver the vaccine to areas and residents who have been prioritised – care home residents, and those aged 80 and above.

'We will reach all parts of the UK over time'

Earlier today, a Conservative MP responded to concerns that the North-East had been “ignored” following the initial list which appeared to show just one hospital.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, Simon Clarke said the Government would “reach all parts” of the UK over time.

Acknowledging a map, which purported to show a list of hospitals earmarked for the initial roll-out, Mr Clarke said the Government would be rolling-out the vaccine in “vaccination centres” and in GP surgeries and pharmacies too.

He said it was wrong to suggest that the list of hospital hubs was “exhaustive”, although he did not confirm whether any further would be added to the North-East at the time.

Addressing concerns, he said: “For the avoidance of any doubt, and to prevent the furtherance of any more inaccurate information being circulated - there are three modes of rollout - hospital hubs, vaccination centres, and community.”

Mr Clarke said the list only showed one mode – and that it was wrong to suggest the North-East is being “overlooked.”

He added: “We will reach all parts of the UK through the three modes - and will expand all three over time.”

It is understood that Nightingale Hospitals, including the sites near Sunderland and Harrogate, have also been earmarked to become "mass immunisation" clinics for the vaccine.

'We will work with Newcastle Hospitals Trust'

On Wednesday, a joint-statement from the leaders of seven councils in the north of the region, confirmed they “stood ready” to support the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust in the roll-out of the vaccine next week.

Representing County Durham, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North and South Tyneside and Northumberland councils, they said: “Rolling out this vaccine is going to be a mammoth operational challenge with many complexities, but the local authorities stand ready to support the NHS in whatever way we can. 

“Across the North-East we will focus on ensuring that those high-risk groups are prioritised and are working with Newcastle Hospitals Trust, who are acting on behalf of all NHS partners, to coordinate the vaccine rollout over the coming months and in the longer term.”

'It is logistically complicated'

As the vaccine was announced, Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England, said the roll-out of the vaccine to the 50 named hospitals was “logistically” complicated due to regulations limiting the number of times they can be moved. 

He said: “The vaccine that has been approved for the NHS to deploy, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, has been independently shown to be medically safe, but it is logistically complicated.

“We have to move it around the country in a carefully controlled way initially at minus 70 degrees centigrade, or thereabouts, and there are a limited number of further movements that we are allowed by the regulator to make.

“It also comes in packs of 975 people’s doses so you can’t at this point just distribute it to every individual GP surgery or pharmacy as we normally would for many of the other vaccines available on the NHS.

“So the phasing of delivery, the way we will do it, is that next week around 50 hospital hubs across England will start offering the vaccine to the over-80s and to care home staff and others identified by the JCVI typically they may be people who were already down to come into hospital next week for an outpatient appointment.

“So if you are going to be one of those people next week or in the weeks that follow the hospital will get in touch with you, you don’t need to do anything about it yourself.”

A spokesman for NHS England said more information on covid vaccination sites would be “released shortly."

Health officials have stressed it is a “fast moving situation” with one warning that the list of 53 trusts “may already be out of date”.