NHS bosses considered creating physical women's health hubs in two locations before opting to invest in a virtual scheme, it has been revealed.

NHS Norfolk and Waveney was allocated £595,000 to invest in women's health hubs as part of a government scheme to improve access to services.

The organisation has chosen to invest the two-year allocation to a 'virtual' hub, an approach which will largely focus on expanding existing services and increasing awareness of the support women can access.

The approach has been criticised by some, who argue it would have been better to invest in a physical location that people could visit.

And during a meeting of Norfolk's health overview and scrutiny committee, it emerged that bosses had originally planned to have the hubs based in actual buildings.

Janice Shirley, head of clinical transformation at NHS Norfolk and Waveney, said the physical hubs were planned for Norwich and King's Lynn.

But following a planning workshop for the project - which included local authority bodies, patient representatives from Healthwatch Norfolk and public health representatives - it was instead decided to take the 'virtual hub' approach.

Frankie Swords, executive medical director of NHS Norfolk and Waveney, told the meeting: "We went in assuming we should have a hub here and here, where we had pockets of worst access and most deprivation, but what we came out with I think was much, much stronger.

"The clear feedback from the workshop is we should focus on improving understanding in our communities and on upskilling and expanding our existing workforce.

"The aim of that is to ensure women get early and local support, as soon as possible and as soon as an issue arrives."

The initiative will largely focus on two areas in particular - improving menopause awareness and increasing access to long-acting reversible contraceptives.

Dr Swords added: "Just to manage expectation, this is not an enormous amount of money so we thought it was really important to listen to our residents and the two specific areas of focus came out loud and clear as long-active reversible contraceptives and menopause."