Tyne Tees medical

A Middlesbrough baby who received a bone marrow transplant 41 days ago has left the Bubble Unit in Newcastle for the first time.

Danny Bryan will spend up to six weeks in a halfway house in Newcastle before returning home.

A low cost ultrasound scanner, which could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and children in developing countries, has been created by Newcastle University.

The portable scanner has been made at a fraction of the cost of existing equipment.

A new machine to help fight cancer, which will be the first in Europe, is being officially opened in Newcastle today.

The Advanced Technology Biomarker Generator has been paid for by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and it will be opened by his widow Lady Elsie.

Campaigners trying to save children's and maternity services at a North Yorkshire hospital say they're disappointed at a decision to scale them back.

Families have protested for months about possible changes at the Friarage hospital.

But today final plans were revealed which would see an end to overnight paediatric care.

The group commissioning the changes say it will have to go to full consultation before any definite decision can be made.

Health bosses in Berwick say they're keen to hear the views of hundreds of local women about the future of the town's maternity unit.

Protests have been held in the town after the unit closed temporarily in August.

The local hospital trust said fewer births there meant midwives could not practice their skills regularly enough.

The next nearest unit is 40 miles away. An independent company is now carrying out research into what maternity services local women would like to see in Berwick.

One of the first people to donate a kidney while still alive is urging others to register as a donor.

Kate Clarkson, who lives near Hexham, spoke at the start of National Transplant Week.

Only one in five in in the North East has signed a register to donate organs after they die.