Norfolk Backs New 'Neighbourhood' Approach to Health and Care
Health and council leaders have endorsed a Neighbourhood Plan that aims to join up local services around individual residents rather than making people navigate separate organisations. The plan will move into a phased rollout across Norfolk and Waveney during 2026/27.
Norfolk's health and care leaders have backed a new way of delivering local services, agreeing that professionals from health, social care, housing, mental health, and the voluntary sector should work together in defined local neighbourhoods rather than operating in isolation.
The Integrated Care Partnership endorsed the emerging Neighbourhood Plan on 4 March, approving it as the shared strategic framework for neighbourhood working across Norfolk and Waveney.
The plan was introduced by Ian Wake, Executive Director of Adult Social Services at Norfolk County Council, and Ed Garratt, Chief Executive of NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board. They told the committee that residents with complex needs — such as overlapping issues around health, housing, addiction, and debt — often struggled most to access services, and were most likely to fall through gaps between organisations.
The approach would shift staff away from rigid eligibility-based assessments towards more personal, relationship-led conversations focused on what matters to the individual. Leaders said this cultural change also needed to apply between professionals themselves, reducing impersonal referrals and building stronger working relationships.
Members discussed a real-life example referred to as "Brian", a person whose complex needs had previously led to repeated, costly, and ineffective use of services. A neighbourhood-based approach had both improved his outcomes and reduced costs to the system.
The committee approved several immediate steps, including producing a Natural Neighbourhood Map, updated population profiles, and a coordination mechanism to align the work of different partners. Each partner organisation — including voluntary and community groups — has been asked to set out how it will organise itself to participate, including naming local leads.
Members raised concerns that acute hospital services had not been explicitly included in early planning documents and called for them to be fully incorporated. There was also discussion about ensuring a common definition of "prevention" across different organisations.
A national framework from NHS England is expected, but leaders were advised not to wait for it and to press ahead locally. Phased implementation is planned for 2026/27.