Emergency crews shut down health centre again

Emergency services have been called out to close Caister Medical Centre, a week on from its first evacuation

A GP practice was evacuated for the second time in a week while emergency services investigated "changes in air quality", it said.

Caister Medical Centre on West Road, Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk, was first closed on 29 April after 16 people fell ill.

The centre was cordoned off again earlier as a "precautionary measure", a spokeswoman for the practice said.

Great Yarmouth fire station manager Chris Harding-Hook said his crew responded to a "number of staff feeling slightly unwell" and emergency services monitored gas levels in the area.

"They've been cleared by the ambulance service, however, we are still on the scene," he said.

Mr Harding-Hook said his team was working with gas engineers at Cadent and Anglian Water to work out the source of the problem.

Fire station manager Chris Harding-Hook said his officers were working with gas and water services to try to discover why centre staff were feeling unwell

The building's GP surgery has since reopened, but the dental practice and pharmacy remained closed.

The NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, which oversees the GP practice, said patient appointments had been temporarily switched to Newtown surgery in Great Yarmouth.

"Investigations are still ongoing but it is believed there is no ongoing risk to staff or the public and the situation will continue to be monitored," said a spokeswoman.

"The practice is now open again and patients should continue to attend appointments unless they are otherwise informed."

Four fire engines were initially sent to the scene alongside two ambulances and a police car, after being called just after 13:00 BST.

Last week, the ambulance hazardous area response team (HART) attended the incident. Four of the 16 people who fell ill took themselves to hospital.

The practice reopened the following day.

Elaine Murphy, who lives in Caister, described the closures as "worrying"

Villager Elaine Murphy, 73, was attending the dentist's on the first floor last week when the doctor's surgery, on the ground floor, was closed off. She said she was concerned about the latest situation.

"I hope everybody is safe - it's all a bit strange and worrying because they can't seem to find the cause," she said.

"It's worrying for people if they've got appointments.

"We'll just have to wait and hope they sort it out."

Caister Medical Centre was closed again

Network gas operator Cadent said it had been called back to the site after several people were taken ill again, but the gas had already been turned off after last week's similar incident.

It said its engineer carried out a full inspection, "but there were no gas readings, and no carbon monoxide alarms had been activated".

An engineer also attended the scene last week, it said, but no readings were discovered.

Anglian Water told the BBC it was aware of the incident on 29 April and had investigated the issue at that point too.

"Our teams checked our pumping station and the surrounding area with a gas monitor, which detected zero," said a spokeswoman for the utility firm.

"Our local team has carried out further gas monitoring today and nothing unusual was identified – this was confirmed with the fire service."

It said emissions from the village's sewage works were constantly monitored and nothing had shown up.