A health body serving residents of the east coast area has been placed out of special measures.

Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been told by NHS England it is no longer in special measures after being on the status for the last eight months.

Last September it was rated as inadequate, with its chief officer Melanie Craig admitting the organisation needed to do better and take control of its finances.

Ms Craig has now been told by NHS England that the CCG has been removed from special measures following the implementation of an improvement plan.

MORE; CCG placed on special measures

The plan saw a strengthening leadership by restructuring the executive team and developing the governing body, improving financial management and contracting arrangements, improving performance against targets for dementia care and improved access to psychological therapies and working more closely with partner organisations.

Ms Craog will officially confirm the removal of the status on Thursday afternoon at a meeting of the CCG’s governing body in Great Yarmouth.

Ms Craig said: “I was delighted to receive confirmation from NHS England of the removal of special measures for our CCG.

“We have delivered all the key changes set out in our improvement plan, while our governing body and our staff have worked hard to address all of the challenges we faced in 2017/18. I was particularly pleased to note that we have all been commended by NHS England for this work.

“Despite this significant improvement, we still face a number of challenging targets so will not be complacent.

We will continue to maintain a robust focus on quality and on our current priorities of mental health, diabetes and primary care resilience, along with making sure people receive better support which is tailored to their individual wishes at the end of their lives.”

At the time of the special measures status Ms Craig said: “We recognise our performance during 2016/17 was not good enough. We need to do better for local people and are already making improvements.”

Thursday’s meeting takes place between 1.30pm and 5pm at the Kings Centre, 30 Queen Anne’s Road, Great Yarmouth.

Everyone is welcome to attend.