Dereham Toftwood Medical Centre is recommended for closure

Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board has released a report in which it has proposed closing Toftwood Medical Centre in Dereham.

It follows a public consultation and people in the town raising fears on how they will access medical services. 

One of the events included in the consultation period was a town hall meeting in Dereham (Image: Newsquest) In a report to the Primary Care Commissioning Committee, Sadie Parker, the director of primary care, has recommended the surgery is closed when its contract with the practice expires on March 31 next year.

Ms Parker said splitting the practice's 4,000 patients between Orchard and Theatre Royal surgeries would be the "best way to ensure people were cared for in appropriate facilities and in a cost-effective way".

Her report included the results from the ICB's consultation, which began on October 10. 

Sadie Parker has released her recommendations to close Toftwood Medical Centre (Image: NHS Norfolk & Waveney) During the consultation time, patients raised concerns that dividing Toftwood's patient list would add undue strain to the other two surgeries in Dereham. 

To this, Ms Parker wrote: "Both Orchard and Theatre Royal Surgeries have confirmed they can continue to meet their contractual requirements while taking on additional patients.

The contract with the surgery is expected to expire at the end of March 2025 (Image: © Archant Norfolk 2015) "The surgeries are around 1.5 miles from Toftwood Medical Centre and around half of people living in Toftwood are already registered with them."

Some were also worried the surgery's closure would restrict access for the elderly and disabled to primary care.

Richard and Elizabeth Spencer raised concerns during the consultation about the future of Wellbeing Pharmacy, which is on the same site as the surgery (Image: Newsquest) However, Ms Parker countered this saying there were several transport services available and the ICB was improving its equality impact measures to offer greater support.

The report also discussed meetings the ICB has had with the surgery's landlady since a recurring issue during the consultation was the terms of a new lease and the ICB's "priority backlog maintenance work required".

Ms Parker said: "Unfortunately, it was not possible to make sufficient progress in negotiations to the extent ICB officers can be confident in securing services in the building past March 31."

The proposal is part of an agenda for a meeting to be held on Tuesday, December 10.

There will also be an extraordinary meeting of Norfolk's health and overview scrutiny committee (HOSC) on Thursday, December 5.