Healthcare in Suffolk was the responsibility of two

clinical commissioning group Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were NHS organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to organise the delivery of NHS services in each of their local areas in England. On 1 July 2022 they were abolished and replaced by Integra ...

s until July 2022: Ipswich and East Suffolk, and West Suffolk.

History

From 1947 to 1965 NHS services in Suffolk were managed by the East Anglian

regional hospital board In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

s. In 1974 the boards were abolished and replaced by regional health authorities. Suffolk came under the East Anglian RHA. There was a Suffolk

Area Health Authority Area health authorities were 90 bodies responsible for administering the National Health Service, established in England by the National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973 in 1974. Each covered a geographical population which matched a Local Go ...

from 1974 until 1982: There were two District Authorities: East and West Suffolk. in 1993 these were combined. Regional Health Authorities were reorganised and renamed

strategic health authorities Strategic health authorities (SHA) were part of the structure of the National Health Service (England), National Health Service in England between 2002 and 2013. Each SHA was responsible for managing performance, enacting directives and implementin ...

(SHAs) in 2002. Suffolk was under the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA. In 2006 regions were again reorganised and Suffolk came under NHS East of England until that was abolished in 2013. There was one

primary care trust Primary care trusts (PCTs) were part of the National Health Service in England from 2001 to 2013. PCTs were largely administrative bodies, responsible for commissioning primary, community and secondary health services from providers. Until 31 May ...

for the county.

Sustainability and transformation plans

Suffolk and North East Essex formed a

sustainability and transformation plan In England, a sustainability and transformation plan (STP) is a non-statutory requirement which promotes integrated provision of healthcare, including purchasing and commissioning, within each geographical area of the National Health Service. The ...

area in March 2016 with Nick Hulme, the Chief Executive of

Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust Ipswich Hospital is a large district general hospital in Heath Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It is now managed by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which was formed on 1 July 2018 by the merging of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust w ...

, as its leader It was one of four new

integrated care system In England, an integrated care system (ICS) is a statutory partnership of organisations who plan, buy, and provide health and care services in their geographical area. The organisations involved include the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and cha ...

s established by

NHS England NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...

in May 2018.

Commissioning

In 2018, Ipswich and East Suffolk, West Suffolk and North East Essex CCGs proposed to merge as part of local plans to establish an integrated care system.

Primary care

There are 66 GP practices in the county.

Out-of-hours service Out-of-hours services are the arrangements to provide access to healthcare at times when General Practitioner surgeries are closed; in the United Kingdom this is normally between 6.30pm and 8am, at weekends, at Bank Holidays and sometimes if the ...

s are provided by

Care UK Care UK is a provider of residential care for older people. They operate more than 150 homes offering residential care, dementia care, and nursing care. The company formerly also operated a wider range of healthcare services until 2019 when ...

which won a further five year contract in partnership with the Suffolk GP Federation to run the NHS 111 helpline and out of hours services in Suffolk and north east Essex in June 2018. Oulton Medical Centre and its satellite branch of Marine Parade Surgery, at

Kirkley Kirkley is a district within the town of Lowestoft in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located south of the centre of Lowestoft and the town's harbour and Lake Lothing. Kirkley was originally an independent vill ...

Mill were closed by the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...

in October 2015 using an order from Norwich Magistrates’ Court under Section 30 of the

Health and Social Care Act 2008 The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (c 14) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Synopsis The Act was created on 11 March 2009 with the following regulated activities: * provision of health care to patients by a National Health Ser ...

because of serious concerns about the service and the risks it presented to patients. Suffolk GP Federation is a group of 61 independent GP practices in the county with a total registered population of 540,000. It is at present a registered

community interest company A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...

, but is considering becoming one large partnership. 14 of the GP practices in Suffolk, with a total patient list of 112,614, intend to form the largest single GP partnership in the country by April 2017.

Acute care

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust which runs West Suffolk Hospital, a large district general hospital in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The Trust provides a wide range of services to the population of west Suff ...

and

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust in the East of England. It runs Colchester Hospital in Colchester, Essex and Ipswich Hospital in Ipswich, Suffolk, as well as several smaller community hospitals in the ...

are the main hospital providers. Unlike the pattern in the rest of England they are at their busiest at the weekend.

Mental health

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is a large mental health trust and an NHS Foundation Trust. It runs services in Norfolk and Suffolk, England, chiefly at Hellesdon Hospital, Norvic and Juilan Hospital in Norwich, Northgate in ...

provide mental health services in Suffolk.

Community services

Serco Serco Group plc is a British company with headquarters based in Hook, Hampshire, England. Serco primarily derives income as a contractor for the provision of government services, most prominently in the sectors of health, transport, justice, i ...

ran Suffolk Community Healthcare from 2012 until 2015. In October 2015 the services were due to be taken over by a joint venture run by

Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust is a provider of community services to a population of about 882,000 in Norfolk. It was established under the Transforming Community Services initiative. It comprises the community services previously ...

and

. Serco said the three-year contract was not long enough to deliver the operational efficiencies it hoped for, despite saying in May 2013 that it expected to make a profit on the three-year, £140 million contract for community services. It said that staff had not recorded activity accurately on the

Electronic health record An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared throu ...

and that activity had increased significantly during the course of the contract. The County Council transferred 16 care homes to

in December 2012 who were required to build 10 new purpose built care homes to replace them. They were subsequently returned to the council. 73 of the care homes in the county were rated “good”, 40 deemed to be requiring improvement and 7 as inadequate by

inspections in 2015. Social care in the county is supported by Cassius, a digital care technology service provided by Alcove, which supplies movement sensors, smart watches, wearables, falls prevention devices and technology to address specialised needs. This helps people to stay in their own homes and out of residential care. The contract is worth £15 million over three years.

HealthWatch

Healthwatch HealthWatch is a UK charity which promotes evidence-based medicine. Its formal aims are: # The assessment and testing of treatments, whether “orthodox” or “alternative”; # Consumer protection of all forms of health care, both by thorou ...

is an organisation set up under the

Health and Social Care Act 2012 The Health and Social Care Act 2012c 7 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provided for the most extensive reorganisation of the structure of the National Health Service in England to date.''BMJ'', 2011; 342:d408Dr Lansley's Mon ...

to act as a voice for patients.

References

{{reflist

External links

Ipswich and East Suffolk CCGWest Suffolk CCG

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...