NHS Norfolk & Waveney

The out of hours GP service in Norfolk (excluding Great Yarmouth) is being strengthened, with additional investment, from September.

There are a number of improvements, as NHS Norfolk and Waveney increases investment by more than £1 million. The service will continue to employ local family doctors on the out of hours rota, the commitment remains that all patients for whom a home visit is deemed clinically appropriate will get one and there will be a change in some out of hours bases to improve access for patients. These include:

  • Moving the out of hours GP base from Diss to Long Stratton, meaning no patient in South Norfolk will have to drive more than 30 minutes to access care. 
  • Moving the base in Thetford from Grove Road Surgery to the larger Thetford Healthy Living Centre where there is a public pharmacy on site 
  • Moving the base in North Walsham and District War Memorial Hospital to Birchwood Medical Practice in North Walsham, which has recently extended its premises and where there is a public pharmacy on site. 

In addition to these bases there are existing fixed bases operating in Norwich, King’s Lynn, Fakenham and Dereham.There are also mobile units which enable home visits to be made to patients for whom this is deemed appropriate.

The Norfolk service is run by East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust and covers all of the county except Great Yarmouth and Waveney. The ambulance service is currently liaising with neighbouring NHS organisations in Great Yarmouth and Waveney and Suffolk so patients can access their nearest out of hours centre even if it is outside the area covered by the contract (Norfolk excluding Great Yarmouth).

Associate Director at EEAST, Lyn Reynolds, said: 

“We will continue to employ local family doctors to provide medical help out of hours together with a team of highly experienced Emergency Care Practitioners.

“Patients will really feel the benefit of the new base at Long Stratton which is much better for the wider community. It has modern facilities and better integration with local family GPs in a large practice and it will now mean that any patient living in South Norfolk will be able to reach an OOH service within a 30-minute drive. This really is great news for patients in the area.”

NHS Norfolk and Waveney awarded a new three year contract to EEAST in March, to run for three years from September 1st 2012. The total investment is close to £7 million. In addition to this, NHS Norfolk and Waveney increased funding in the last 12 months by £400,000.

Harper Brown, NHS Norfolk and Waveney’s Executive Director responsible for out of hours care said:

“The new Out of Hours service for Norfolk receives greater investment than ever before and we shall continue to work with EEAST to ensure it continues meets the needs of our patients wherever they live.”

The out of hours period runs from 6.30pm to 8am Monday to Thursday, from 6.30pm on Friday evenings to 8am on Monday mornings, and throughout each Bank Holiday. If patients need GP care out of hours they should call their own family doctor’s number first and wait for instructions.

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