Today, Alice Macdonald, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Norwich North, and Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South went to the headquarters of the local NHS Integrated Care Board at County Hall to hand in a petition signed by over 2000 people urging them to protect Norwich’s Walk-In centre.

The petition was launched at the end of January, following the announcement of an NHS consultation which could see its closure. It has attracted signatures from people all across Norwich and Norfolk. Comments on social media in response to the petition have highlighted how needed the service is with members of the public describing it as a ‘vital service’, ‘brilliant’ and critical’. Many of the comments mentioned the challenges that people are facing in accessing GP appointments and the role the centre plays in alleviating pressure on the NHS.

The petition will be kept open until the decision on the centre is made in order to keep pressure on the NHS. You can sign online here.

Members of the public who had signed the petition as well as councillors also attended the hand-in.

Alice Macdonald, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Norwich North, says:

‘Thousands of people are saying that this centre is vital for people in Norwich and beyond. The stories that people are sharing about their use of the Walk-In centre underline exactly why it must be saved.  We hope the NHS listens and protects its future. At a time when the NHS is under huge pressure and we face record waiting lists, I cannot understand why closing it is even under consideration.  We’ll continue to campaign and keep the pressure up until a final decision is made.”

Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, says:

“Yesterday’s budget made it even more vital to save our walk-in centre. From the N&N through Adult Social Care to ambulances, our city’s health and social care services are at breaking point. There’s a vast staff recruitment crisis, and people are leaving every single day because of a decade of plummeting real-terms pay and underfunding of services, making it nigh-on impossible to provide decent care. The budget did nothing to improve any of that, and taking away our Walk-In centre would make things even worse.”