Healthwatch Norfolk was asked to carry out an independent summary of public and professional responses to proposed changes to three services – the GP Out Of Hours Service, the Norwich Walk-In Centre, and the Vulnerable Adults Service Inclusion Hub. Prior to the conclusion of the work, NHS Norfolk and Waveney decided not to go ahead with the changes but we chose to complete the consultation exercise to ensure people’s voices were still heard and respected.
We received over 2100 usable responses as well as input from local stakeholders and voluntary sector partners. Healthwatch Norfolk also conducted additional engagement with adults in vulnerable situations and frontline staff to capture views not easily reached through standard methods.
Our recommendations, based on an analysis of all responses, was:
Maintain the current number of locations for the GP Out-Of-Hours Service.
Maintain the current Norwich Walk-In Centre.
Maintain the current Vulnerable Adults Service Health Inclusion Hub at its current Norwich location.
Consider renaming the Vulnerable Adults Service and producing a new logo
NHS Norfolk and Waveney should improve the design of surveys and data collection of responses.
