Young people in Sheffield and the surrounding regions living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and Post Viral Fatigue are now benefiting from improved service provision thanks to a collaborative effort that has seen their specialist service relocate to Norfolk Park Medical Centre (MC) in Sheffield. Community Health Partnerships (CHP) worked closely with Sheffield Children’s and with the South Yorkshire Integrated Care System (ICS) teams, to facilitate the move in January 2025.
Strategic Partnership for Enhanced Community Healthcare
Community Health Partnerships is focusing on increasing the use of NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) buildings to bring healthcare closer to patients’ homes, delivering neighbourhood health services, and enabling ‘the left shift’ to more care in local communities, moving from hospital settings. Our CHP North East team works with the South Yorkshire Integrated Care System (ICS) and the local NHS Trusts to optimise the use of our seven LIFT healthcare facilities across Sheffield. This partnership focuses on identifying opportunities to relocate outpatient services into community settings, making healthcare more accessible within local neighbourhoods. By working with the ICS transformation team, CHP aims to bring underused bookable room space into long-term use for local patients.
Facilitating the Move: A Collaborative Effort
The first outcome of this partnership is the successful relocation of the ME/CFS & Post Viral Fatigue Service for Children & Young People. The CHP team has been working with local NHS Trusts, including Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Over the past year, CHP organised several site visits to its LIFT buildings for Trust Estates staff and clinical teams to explore their suitability. This collaborative approach ensured that Norfolk Park Medical Centre was identified as the ideal location to meet the specific needs of the Sheffield Children’s team.
A New Home for Recovery at Norfolk Park Medical Centre
The ME/CFS and Post Viral Fatigue service from Sheffield Children’s was the first team to relocate as part of this initiative, moving to Norfolk Park Medical Centre in January 2025, with the active support of the local CHP team. The service now occupies four bookable rooms within the modern and accessible health centre, operating five days a week.
The service runs six clinics per month. Clinics offer a multidisciplinary assessment consisting of a consultant paediatrician, an occupational therapist, and a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) therapist. Two patients are seen in each clinic owing to the complexity of their diagnosis. In addition, therapists work one-to-one with patients throughout the week. Therapy sessions last between 50 to 60 minutes and can be either face-to-face or video appointments from Norfolk Park Medical Centre.
The ME/CFS & Post Viral Fatigue Service provides care for children and young people up to the age of 18 from Sheffield and nearby areas. Previously, the service was based at the Michael Carlisle Centre in Nether Edge, Sheffield. Norfolk Park Medical Centre provides a light, bright, and welcoming environment, with improved transport links, for patients and their families, supporting their recovery.
CHP support for Service Relocation
The successful relocation of the ME/CFS & Post Viral Fatigue Service was a result of joint working across the CHP team. This included:
- Working closely with the multidisciplinary team at Sheffield Children’s to understand their specific needs and identify a bespoke solution within the CHP estate.
- Arranging and leading site visits to Norfolk Park Medical Centre, providing expert advice to the Sheffield Children’s estates team and clinical leaders on the suitability of the space. Simon McKinna, CHP’s local Operations and Relationship Manager (ORM), played a key role in this process.
- Working with an existing tenant, the Norfolk Park Medical Practice, who agreed to adjust their occupied space to optimise the layout and improve patient flow for all building users.
- Ensuring the clinical bookable rooms at Norfolk Park Medical Centre were ready for the Sheffield Children’s team to move in. As a modern LIFT building, the rooms required no repainting or upgrades.
- Working closely with the Sheffield Children’s estates team, who sourced appropriate furniture for the clinic rooms to create a welcoming setting for patients, their families, and staff. Sheffield Children’s estates team provided lamps, posters, and brighter soft furnishings to make the accommodation more suitable and comfortable for working with younger people. New office furniture and equipment were provided for the staff offices.
- Simon McKinna providing site inductions to the Sheffield Children’s team to help them settle into their new environment quickly.
Our local Portfolio Manager, Jo Hitchen, worked closely with the Sheffield Children’s team throughout the project to identify suitable rooms, adapt leases and design a bespoke solution for the ME/CFS & Post Viral Fatigue Service for Children & Young People to use bookable rooms on a longer-term basis.
The clinical team for the service is delighted with the move. The new accommodation not only offers a calm, light, modern space for patients and families, with ease of access, it also has significantly improved IT infrastructure. The team at Norfolk Park Medical Centre have been incredibly welcoming and supportive of the team.
The enhanced accessibility of the building and the bespoke clinical rooms have been particularly beneficial, leading to improvements in both the patient experience and the team’s ability to deliver care effectively. Patients and their families have mentioned that Norfolk Park MC is a light, bright, modern building that is easy to get to for appointments. The relocation to Norfolk Park has enabled better connectivity with the Sheffield Children’s and, consequently, more successful virtual therapy appointments.
This successful project at Norfolk Park Medical Centre emphasises the value of partnership working and the hugely positive impact that it can have on patient care. We are proud to support Sheffield Children's to deliver appointments in a modern community setting. This move improves patient access, reduces travel, and contributes to a more integrated health and social care system. CHP remains committed to ongoing work with our partners to further enhance community health services and maximise the potential of our LIFT estate. We look forward to welcoming more services into our buildings as we progress with similar initiatives across the whole of the North East and Yorkshire region.
It was a pleasure to support the Sheffield Children's team in moving their ME and CFS service into Norfolk Park. We worked closely with their estates team to ensure a smooth transition, making the necessary arrangements to create a comfortable and functional space for both patients and staff. The GP practice team were also incredibly supportive in accommodating the new service. We are delighted to see the positive impact this move is already having and are committed to ensuring Norfolk Park Medical Centre continues to be a welcoming and accessible hub for community health services.
About Norfolk Park Medical Centre
Norfolk Park Medical Centre is a two-storey, 1,900m2 building with CHP as the head tenant and Community 1st Sheffield (LIFTCo) own the building. The centre houses several services, including the Norfolk Park Medical Practice GP team. Patients can access a range of services such as Angina and Hypertension management, blood pressure checks, dressings, injections, blood tests, ear syringing, travel vaccinations, diabetic clinics, and asthma/COPD care. The centre also offers dermatology and sexual health services.
The Shefiield Children’s ME/CFS and Post Viral Fatigue Service for Children and Young People moved into Norfolk Park in January 2025. providing services for children and young people across Sheffield.
As with most CHP buildings, bookable rooms are available for sessional services.
There is also a Pharmacy on site.
The health centre has good transport links, including the Park Grange tram stop outside the main entrance, and a car park at the rear of the building.
AccessAble Guide: Norfolk Park Medical Centre
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