“Don’t move our Walk In Centre”: Chloe Smith urges meeting to resolve Norwich health centre impasse

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, has called for an urgent meeting of all parties to the Timber Hill Walk In Centre in Norwich.

The owners of the Castle Mall in Norwich announced on Monday that they would not renew the lease on the Norwich medical centre on its top floor.  The owners have held discussions with the Timber Hill Health Centre to move it to a larger in the shopping centre.  But NHS England, who pay the rent for the doctors’ surgery and Walk In Centre, dispute the decision.

Chloe says: 

“People need to see the doctor so the most important thing is to ensure that both walk-in patients and patients registered at Timber Hill have good service.

“I am very concerned that the Health Centre may move elsewhere in the city, and particularly if an option is being considered of moving out of the city centre to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, considerably further from my constituency.  People living to the north of the city need a convenient location for the Walk In Centre facility and thousands of patients will be affected if the Centre moves.  

“We fought tooth and nail to stop the Walk In Centre moving from Dussindale, within my constituency, some years ago.  Then, the reasons cited for the move included that a more central location was needed for those non-registered patients who do need to walk in, and that the city centre contained a more disadvantaged population that needed walkable access to their registered GP practice.  A new location should surely fulfil these needs and serve my constituents to the north of the city conveniently. 

“Norwich North residents should not have to put up with twice the disruption, so don’t move our Walk In Centre.”

Chloe explains in a firm letter to NHS England: 

“I would appreciate your assurance that NHS England will do everything within its power to resolve this issue and ensure good service to my constituents.  As this is a multi-party negotiation, I would urge openness between the parties and a common understanding of the requirements and constraints.

I would like to invite you to an urgent meeting with all parties in Norwich, should this be required to resolve the impasse.”