Blakeney Surgery will shortly be closing.
Brief Background
Holt Medical Practice (HMP) applied to the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (the ICB) for permission to close Blakeney Surgery back in January 2024. Following an extended public consultation, the ICB recommended to the Primary Care Commissioning Committee (PCCC) that Blakeney Surgery be allowed to close. The PCCC approved the ICB’s recommendation on 7th May 2025 and a closure date of 7th November 2024 was nominally set. A copy of the minutes of this meeting are available here.
Since 7th November 2024, Blakeney Surgery has temporarily remained open for medicines ordering and collection whilst alternative local medicines ordering and collection options were progressed and planning permission granted for HMP to install two 24/7 Medicines Collection Machines: one at Blakeney Village Hall and the other at Holt Surgery. Further information about the Medicine Collection Machines can be found here. In summary, the machines will allow 24 hours a day, 7 days a week prescription collections which will especially benefit those who may be limited by transport or working patterns and will help reduce queues and waiting times.
What happens now?
Patients who usually collect their medication from Blakeney Surgery will shortly be asked to nominate where they would like to collect their medication from after Blakeney Surgery closes.
Patients should expect any collections from mid-June onwards to be from an alternative location. Discussions about the various options available to patients are likely to commence from mid-May (until which point nothing will change).
Patients shouldn’t worry about this change. We will be available to discuss what options are available and most suitable for each patient, so they feel supported throughout the change.
Where can patients collect their medication from after the Surgery closes?
- Holt Surgery (during opening hours)
- Melton Surgery (during opening hours)
- Blakeney Village Hall Medicines Collection Box (24/7)
- Holt Surgery Medicines Collection Box (24/7)
- Other third-party options (as arranged by the patient)
Remember: you can ask family or friends to collect your medication on your behalf at a time and location to suit them.
Requests for home deliveries will be considered by a GP on a case-by-case basis for those who are clinically housebound and for whom there are no other suitable alternatives.
Note: not everyone will be eligible to use the Medicines Collection Boxes (for example if your medication regularly contains fridge items, lockable controlled drugs or is too large for the machine). But for many patients, it will be a suitable local alternative to collecting from the Surgery.
Further information about the Medication Collection Boxes is available here.
How can patients order their medication after the Surgery closes?
Patients will be able to post their repeat requests in a new prescriptions post-box located next to the Medicines Collection Machines at the front of the Village Hall.
More information about other ways to order your medication can be found here.
What to do if you are personally concerned?
Please try not to worry. We are several weeks away from any change, and we are here to support all our patients as best we can through this process.
We will continue to share new updates with patients as and when they evolve and are hopeful that by working together, we will be able to keep the impact of closure to a minimum.
Healthwatch Norfolk may also be a useful source of reliable information or advice.