The NHS perspective

Last - but by no means least - given the importance of the NHS to the Total Place agenda speaker was Sir Neil McKay, Chief Executive of the East of England Strategic Health Authority.

He outlined the NHS's strategy, built arounf a series of pledges, and told the story of the reality check the NHS received when the recession hit home.

"The cash we get will not reduce, but it will not increase," he said, which in real terms means a productivity gain of between £1.6 and £2 billion in the region - in other words, the NHS will have to do a lot more for the same amount of money.

Sir Neil outlined how the NHS was seeking those productivity gains from changes to the back office, procurement, asset management and estates, but that the main opportunity lay in improving the quality of clinical care by looking at services through the eyes of patients and their families.

And on Total Place - "The penny is dropping," he said.