Temporary change to opening hours, Timber Hill Health Centre
Due to staffing pressures, there will be a temporary reduction to opening hours for the NHS walk-in centre at Timber Hill in Norwich, starting this Monday (18 August 2014). The change will enable Timber Hill to continue offering consistent services to walk-in patients while it recruits more staff to fill its rotas.
The walk-in centre will be open from 9am – 7pm seven days a week, for patients to seek advice and treatment for minor illness and injuries.
This is two hours shorter each morning and evening – until now the opening hours have been 7am-9pm. The first and last two hours are normally the quietest, which means there will be minimal impact for local people.
These changes are to the walk-in centre only: there is no change to opening hours for the GP Practice at Timber Hill, so registered patients seeking routine appointments are unaffected.
Health Centre Manager Donna Laws-Chapman said: “We’re very sorry that we must change our opening hours temporarily. We hope that normal hours will be restored as soon as possible”
Margaret Berry, Director of Nursing and Quality, NHS England Area Team said: “The temporary reduction in opening hours of the Timber Hill walk-in service has been accepted as being necessary to ensure a safe service for patients. We have made it clear that we expect the service to resume normal working as soon as possible.”
Timber Hill Health Centre is five nurses short at the moment and is actively recruiting. The recruitment pressures felt at the Health Centre and in Norfolk more widely are no different to many parts of the UK where there are more vacancies than medical staff applying.
As has always been the case, patients are asked to choose the most appropriate service when they’re looking for health care. If you cannot treat yourself, then community pharmacists can help with many problems. You can also call 111, the free NHS helpline for expert advice. The 111 team will let you know if they think you should see a doctor or nurse.