The Chief Executive designate of the new NHS Norfolk and Suffolk ICB has been visiting East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH).

Ed Garratt was given a tour of ECCH’s Lowestoft base and met members of the town’s Primary Care Home (PCH) team – one of four multidisciplinary teams of nurses and therapists working closely with the four groups of GP practices in Great Yarmouth and Waveney to treat people in their own homes and help them avoid a stay in hospital.

He heard how ECCH’s PCH teams provide services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and cardiac rehabilitation, working alongside social care colleagues and partners from the voluntary and charitable sectors. ECCH also runs the Intermediate Care Unit at Beccles Hospital and provides specialist palliative care in partnership with St Elizabeth Hospice.

ECCH’s Director of Operations Adele Madin said: “It was a great opportunity to show how we work really closely with our GP partners to understand the needs of our communities and ensure they receive the best, most ‘joined up’ care. We discussed some of the health challenges facing our neighbourhoods, such as the prevalence of diabetes and heart disease, and the collaborative and innovate approach ECCH takes to find better outcomes for local people.”

Ed Garratt was also introduced to staff from Cavell Healthcare, a domiciliary care company which was taken on by ECCH in 2022 with the aim of exploring ways to better integrate health and social care. He was shown some of the cutting-edge digital monitoring technology being introduced to provide round-the-clock support and help people to remain independent at home.

NHS Norfolk and Suffolk ICB will go live next April following the planned merger of the current Suffolk and North East Essex and Norfolk and Waveney ICBs.