The Cromer Hospital facility, which has received £107,000 in funding from the Hospitals Charity for its first 23 months, opened this week.

Lucie Legg, heart failure lead nurse specialist, said: ‘It's an exciting opportunity to support patients and community nurses in North Norfolk area.

‘I'm grateful to the charity for funding this clinic and to Cromer Hospital for accommodating the expansion of service – we're working towards reducing the number of patients who require a hospital admission.'

The heart failure service, which is freeing capacity at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals (NNUH ) to introduce an extra clinic, is expanding to meet the needs of a rising number of patients. One in seven people over the age of 70 will be diagnosed with heart failure and, with a high proportion of older people in Norfolk, the team are seeing more patients.

John Paul Garside, director of the N&N Hospitals Charity, said: ‘We are delighted to make this further investment in expanding the services available to the people of North Norfolk at Cromer Hospital. We will gather feedback on the new clinic in the hope that it can continue after the initial two years.'