Smith campaigns for more doctors and dentists for north Norwich

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, has launched a new campaign for more doctors and dentists for north Norwich, as more new homes are built.

She has written to the Housing Secretary to urge him to ensure the right healthcare facilities are built for new homes, as part of his Planning for the Future reforms.

She welcomes work done to date to increase the number of GP appointments available, and acknowledges the challenges people have faced seeing doctors and dentists face to face this year. Chloe thanks the NHS and supports efforts to get back to normal – and wants to take this moment to plan ahead.

She says:

“When new homes are built, enough healthcare facilities must be provided. In my constituency, where a large number of new homes are planned for already, there is already pressure on GP and dentist practices.”

She urges Robert Jenrick to consider how healthcare facilities like GPs, dentists, and others should be planned for alongside homes. She wants this to be properly funded, and any blocks identified and overcome in local or central government or the NHS.

She is in discussions on the subject with Broadland District Council planners, and for the NHS, the Norfolk and Waveney Sustainability and Transformation Partnership.

In her letter to Mr Jenrick, Chloe adds:

“I support building more homes because they are needed. Young people find it hard to afford a home of their own, and there are thousands of people on the public housing waiting lists in greater Norwich. I therefore support your efforts to get the right homes built, more quickly, in the right places. I would like your assurance that you will ensure the right healthcare provision goes with them for my constituents of today and tomorrow.”

Chloe comments:

“I’m doing this because people need to be able to get appointments at the doctor or the dentist, now and in the future. Before coronavirus, there has already been a programme to recruit more GPs and increase the number of appointments available, and since the virus, I know the surgeries are seeing patients in new ways and working incredibly hard to get back to normal. I want to take this moment to think ahead about how this works with new homes too. I am campaigning on this because I believe in building more homes for people and in a strong NHS.”

Local councillors have added their voices to the campaign. Shelagh Gurney, Norfolk County Councillor for Hellesdon said “With so much new development planned for Hellesdon during the next ten years the population of our parish will grow by over 20%. I was acutely aware of this fact and lobbied hard for improvements to both the Dental and GP Provision for Hellesdon at the time housing growth applications were submitted. These efforts fell on deaf ears with the NHS advising me that they were “reactive” rather than “proactive”. This attitude is not helpful and needs addressing immediately by Government Ministers, as we now find ourselves in the situation where our NHS Dental Services are becoming oversubscribed and our Doctors Practices full. This ethos cannot be sustained, and I welcome the fact that our MP Chloe Smith is taking this proactive stance to highlight the issues and problems”.

Norfolk County Councillor for Sprowston John Ward added, "It is really important to get the surgeries open again and fit for the future too."