Minister asked to intervene over surgery's closure

The integrated care board said it had made its decision with "a heavy heart"

Councillors are preparing to ask the health secretary to intervene over plans to shut a GP surgery.

NHS bosses in Norfolk have proposed the closure of Toftwood Medical Centre, near Dereham, on the basis that the building is too small to serve the local population and needs to be upgraded.

There has been strong opposition to the plan which would see 4,000 patients transferred to two other surgeries.

It is thought the closure will be approved next week, but the Norfolk Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee has voted to ask the secretary of state to "call in" the decision if that happens.

The committee met to discuss the results of a consultation on the future of the surgery, which almost 2,000 people took part in.

More than 1,400 said they had concerns over the impact that closure would have on care, including access to appointments and waiting times.

And just over 1,200 of those said they were worried about how the Orchard and Theatre Royal surgeries in Dereham would cope with an influx of new patients.

More than 150 people attended a public meeting last month to express their concerns over the plan

Alison Webb, a Conservative district councillor in Dereham, warned that the two surgeries already served more than 20,000 people between them.

"It's difficult enough to get appointments at both Dereham surgeries already.

"The proposal is not in the best interest of the health service or the residents of our area," she told the committee meeting.

Tricia D'Orsi, of the NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB), insisted that other options had been explored but it had "not been possible to find the solution that is satisfactory to all parties".

She said the decision to close the surgery had been made "with a heavy heart" and she did not want "councillors in the room to think this has been a snap decision".

The ICB is due to meet on 10 December, when it is expected to rubber-stamp the decision to close the medical centre, with patients then due to transfer to the other surgeries on 1 April next year.

But councillors voted to write to Health Secretary Wes Streeting to ask him to review any closure decision.

Government guidance for interventions by ministers states that while call-in requests can be made, the Department of Health and Social Care "expects these only to be used in exceptional situations where local resolution has not been reached".