Healthcare in Norfolk

From 1947 to 1965 NHS services in Norfolk were managed by the East Anglian Regional Hospital Boards. In 1974 the Boards were abolished and replaced by Regional Health Authorities. Norfolk came under the East Anglian RHA. There was a Norfolk Area Health Authority from 1974 until 1982. There were three District Authorities: Great Yarmouth and Waveney, West Norfolk and Wisbech and Norwich created in 1982. In 1993 these were reorganised North West Anglia (which included a part of Cambridgeshire), Norwich and Great Yarmouth and Waveney. Regional Health Authorities were reorganised and renamed Strategic Health Authorities in 2002. Norfolk was under the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA. In 2006 regions were again reorganised and Norfolk came under NHS East of England until that was abolished in 2013. There were two Primary Care Trusts for the county: Norfolk and Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

Waveney has always been included with Norfolk as far as the administration of the NHS is concerned.

In 2012 the Health and Social Care Act set up Health and Wellbeing Boards; this led to the formation in 2013 of The Health and Wellbeing Board for Norfolk and Waveney that holds responsibility for Public Health its area. This has been chaired since 2017 by Cllr. Bill Borrett.

The members of the board are as follows:

Healthwatch Norfolk, The Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, Norfolk’s 7 District Councils and Waveney District Council in Suffolk, Norfolk and Waveney’s 5 Clinical Commissioning Groups, Norfolk’s 3 Acute Hospitals, Norfolk County Council, the Norfolk and Waveney Sustainability Partnership (STP), Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust, East Coast Community Healthcare CIC, Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Sector Representatives and Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

The Board meets in public once a quarter and members of the public can put questions to the board. The Board produces and annual strategy which all the partner organisations agree to implement in their respective spheres. The details of the current strategy and future meeting dates are hosted on Norfolk County Council’s website (Health and Wellbeing Board).

Norfolk and Waveney formed a sustainability and transformation plan area in March 2016.[1] A board was constituted and Patricia Hewitt was elected to be the chairman in June 2017 after the previous chairman Dr Wendy Thompson stepped aside due to the increasing workload conflicting with her responsibilities at Norfolk County Council.

Once a year a forward strategy is submitted for approval to the Health and Wellbeing Board for Norfolk and Waveney.

Due to the aging population of the county leading to increased demand, the projected deficit in 2020/21 is £415 million. It is proposed that with investment in primary care, 20% of patients who currently go to hospital will be cared for in community instead.

Antek Lejk, chief officer of South Norfolk and North Norfolk clinical commissioning groups was the executive lead for the STP, he resigned and was appointed chief executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in March 2018.[2] He was succeeded by Melanie Craig the chief officer of the Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG. In April 2019 she was appointed joint chief officer and finance officer across all five CCGs. They are planning to have a single commissioning side staff structure.[3]

Consideration of a major reconfiguration of stroke services was reported in October 2018. There would be two major hubs at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Addenbrooke's Hospital. Norwich is to be equipped to perform thrombectomies.[4]

There are five clinical commissioning groups in Norfolk, who in May 2018 formed a single joint Commissioning Committee for Norfolk and Waveney. The five are North Norfolk CCG, South Norfolk CCG, Norwich CCG, Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG and West Norfolk CCG.

One of them, North Norfolk Clinical Commissioning group launched a campaign to reduce the annual £400,000 spent on prescriptions for paracetamol and ibuprofen in November 2015 saying patients could buy their own in shops for less than half the price it costs the NHS to prescribe them.[5]

West Norfolk clinical commissioning group was accused of blocking potentially eligible patients from receiving continuing healthcare funding in January 2019. It uses a locally-devised screening process, called the “5Qs test”. Continuing healthcare costs the county around £55 million per year.[6]

There are 92 GP practices in the county (including Waveney). Out-of-hours services are provided by the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The Vida Healthcare group of practices runs the largest practice in Norfolk, and has a Personal Medical Services contract. In 2016 it was proposed to cut this funding by £250,000 over four years from 2016 to 2020. At the time The Patient Participation Group was upset that they had not been consulted about this.[7]

South Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group was one of the beneficiaries of Boris Johnson's announcement of capital funding for the NHS in August 2019, with an allocation of £25.2 million for improvements in primary care services.[8]

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest provider. Its A&E department is the busiest in the east of England.[9] There are three acute hospitals in the county: The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in Norwich, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn and the James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth.

Ambulance services are provided by the East of England Ambulance Service.

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is the main NHS provider.

Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust is the main NHS provider.

Healthwatch is an organisation set up under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to act as a voice for patients.

• Category:Health in Norfolk
• Healthcare in the United Kingdom

• Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG
• North Norfolk CCG
• Norwich CCG
• South Norfolk CCG