Norfolk and Waveney’s three acute hospitals – James Paget University Hospital, the Norfolk University Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn – are working more closely together to improve care for patients.
We also work with other local partners, including Norfolk & Waveney Integrated Care System (ICS), local councils, social care organisations and charities, on a range of projects and initiatives.
Please see below for more information.
We are part of the Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group (NWUHG), which was formed in May 2025 and brings together the James Paget University Hospitals Trust, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Trust and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn.
While each Trust continues to operate under its own name and identity, the formation of the group enables us to build on the successful partnership we established as the Norfolk and Waveney Acute Hospital Collaborative, through which we’ve worked since September 2020 to align decision-making on common issues.
As the NWUHG, we’ll work together under a Group Board with a single Interim Group Chair, Mark Friend; Group CEO, Prof Lesley Dwyer, and joint Executive and non-Executive Directors.
Each Trust remains a separate statutory organisation with its own Executive Managing Director, who will be a full member of the Group board, and leadership team. Each hospital also remains focused on its community and local services and staff relationships will continue to be central to how we work.
This structure will align our strategic ambitions and give us the streamlined decision-making combined with locally-focused delivery of care that will enable us to enhance experience and outcomes for patients across Norfolk and Waveney. It also gives us the opportunity to:
- Transform health services based on the needs of our patients and communities, particularly focusing on preventative and proactive healthcare for people with long-term conditions and delivering a consistent best practice model of urgent and emergency care with a focus on frailty.
- Build on our combined knowledge, skills and experience to implement safe and sustainable care models, level-up access and outcomes and improve outcomes for people with cancer.
- Take a co-ordinated approach to the development of the two new hospitals in King’s Lynn and Gorleston.
- Work at scale to improve our service resilience, enhance staff development and training, create a University Hospital system that strengthens our potential for research, training and innovation, and realise the benefits of service transformation that can be achieved through estates and digital.
- Tackle underlying financial challenges and take advantage of the negotiation, purchasing and investment power that comes with being part of a group.
