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Norfolk and Waveney acute hospitals have launched two joint services

23 October 2020

 

Norfolk and Waveney’s three acute hospitals have launched two joint services to improve services for patients and provide better access to care.

Norfolkandwavhospitalsgroups

Teams at James Paget University Hospitals (JPUH), Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals (NNUH) and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn (QEHKL) have worked together on many successful joint projects and the new services are just two examples of how closer working can benefit patients and staff.

A single clinical team now runs the Norfolk and Waveney Urology Service across JPUH, NNUH and QEHKL; and JPUH and NNUH run the Norfolk and Waveney Ear, Nose and Throat service. 

A range of benefits for patients is expected to result from bringing together skilled teams across these services including sharing best practice, the same access and quality of care, so that all patients get the same experience, and opportunities for patients to help improve services and create new pathways of care.            

In a joint statement the Chief Executives, Anna Hills (JPUH), Sam Higginson (NNUH) and Caroline Shaw (QEHKL) said:

“Our Trusts together provide a wide range of services to a population of more than one million people in Norfolk and Waveney.

“Our very rural geography and long distances apart mean that all three acute hospitals are here to stay, providing vital services to our communities including Emergency Departments and Maternity Departments.  Our approach to working more closely together will only help to secure our hospitals’ future further.  The three organisations remain distinct and each Trust’s Board of Directors will remain accountable to their local population.

“This is a really exciting time in Norfolk and Waveney, we’ve established two joint services for which our teams do an amazing job and provide fantastic care.  We have worked together closely to set up these services because we want to improve the quality of care for the people of Norfolk and Waveney.  We have a successful track record of working together, and projects like these enable patients to have the expertise of three hospitals available to them while accessing the very best care at their own local hospital.

“It is by working together more closely that we can all improve quality and safety and help services become more responsive to the needs of patients, families and carers, and help services be more sustainable.”  

The hospitals already have a good track record of working together (includes the Eastern Pathology Alliance) with joint posts, staff working across different sites including running clinics and joint research projects.

The hospitals are collaborating on this work as the Norfolk and Waveney Hospitals Group.  Representatives from each organisation’s Board of Directors attend regular meetings, called a Committees in Common forum, to take joint decisions on future strategy and development of services. This provides oversight and will support teams’ innovations.