The Norwich Walk-in Centre provides general practice services, including the treatment of minor illnesses and injuries.

Anyone can use the service; you do not have to be registered with a GP practice or registered with the NHS at all. People do not need to make an appointment in advance to use the service.

The Walk-in Centre treats people who are ill or injured. But unlike a GP practice, the Walk-in Centre does not provide ongoing care to people.

The Walk-in Centre provides approximately 6,000 appointments per month. To put that in context, in 2024 there was an average of 624,300 GP practice appointments, per month across Norfolk and Waveney.

The busiest times for the Walk-in Centre are weekends, specifically early Saturday and Sunday mornings. From Monday to Friday, there is a peak in attendances between 09:00 and 11:00, with numbers gradually decreasing throughout the day.

Here is some information about who uses the service:

• The Walk-in Centre is used mainly by people living in or near to Norwich as it provides convenient access.
• Most people (65%) using the Walk-in Centre are registered with one of the 22 Norwich GP practices. Of these, 8% are registered with the Norwich Health Centre, which is located in the same building as the Walk-in Centre.

Here is some information about what people use the Walk-in Centre for:

• Data shows that most people use the Walk-in Centre for general health issues like chest infections and suspected urinary tract infections. These are the sorts of conditions that could be treated by GP practices, and some could be treated by community pharmacies.
• A minority of people use the Walk-in Centre for minor injuries or issues that need onward referral to hospital emergency care.

There is more information about who uses the service, when and what for in our data pack.

An Equality Impact Assessment can be found here, which looks at the potential impact on different groups of people and what we could do to mitigate the impact.

The Walk-in Centre provides general practice services and was set-up to provide convenient access to care at different times of the day. Since it was established, there has been a change in national policy with the introduction of ‘Enhanced Access’, which means that GP practices now offer more appointments earlier and later in the day than they used to, and on Saturday mornings.

We know that in some parts of Norfolk and Waveney people find it harder to get an appointment at their GP practice. Some members of the public have told us that they use the Walk-in Centre when they need an appointment on that day, and they cannot get one at their GP practice.

GP practices in Norfolk and Waveney are offering more appointments than ever before, however they are under pressure. One of our priorities is to support GP practices to ensure their services remain resilient and can care for their patients in a timely way, even if staff members are off ill or on leave.

In January 2024 we introduced Pharmacy First, which means that community pharmacies can now treat patients for seven common conditions that they couldn’t previously.

Pharmacists can provide advice and NHS-funded treatment, where clinically appropriate, for seven common conditions within certain age ranges, including:

• Earache for all adults and children aged 1 to 17 years.
• Infected insect bites for all adults and children aged 1 year and over.
• Impetigo for all adults and children aged 1 year and over.
• Shingles for adults aged 18 and over.
• Sinusitis (sinus infection) for adults and children aged 12 years and over.
• Sore throat for adults and children aged 5 years and over.
• Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) in females aged 16 to 64 years.

In the six months between July and December 2024, the following people that went to the Walk-in Centre in Norwich could now have gone to a local pharmacy:

• 997 women under 65 with a suspected urinary tract infection.
• 1,258 people aged 5 years old and above with tonsilitis or a sore throat.
• 129 children and young people under 18 with an ear infection.

The Walk-in Centre provides general practice services and only a minority of people use it for minor injuries or issues that need referral to hospital emergency care. When GP practices are closed, it is the GP Out of Hours Service that treats people that need an urgent primary care appointment.

One option we are considering is closing the Norwich Walk-in Centre and then investing £1.5m in GP practices across Norfolk and Waveney using a fairer funding formula. This would help to close the gap between the GP practices that receive the most money per patient and those that receive the least.

The fairer funding formula would invest money in the GP practices serving the patients with the greatest need. We know that health and social need is greater in poorer areas. However, GP practices in deprived parts of England receive on average 9.8% less funding when you take into account the needs of their patients, than practices in more affluent areas.

This is how it would work:

• We would agree a fairer funding formula to invest the £1.5m to provide additional capacity in our lowest funded practices.
• The GP practices that would receive the money would mostly be in our urban centres, so we would expect to invest further in King’s Lynn, Thetford, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft GP practices.
• In return, we would ask the GP practices to focus on addressing specific conditions that their patients are more likely to experience, for example heart disease, diabetes and respiratory disease, and to increase access to appointments where necessary.
• We would invest this funding for an initial three-year period and conduct a formal evaluation to see what impact it has. We would monitor the progress throughout the three-year period and adjust the plans for each GP practice involved each year if needed.

What would this mean for patients?

• If we closed the Walk-in Centre, people would need to use other primary care services, such as their GP practice or local pharmacy. For urgent care in the evenings and at weekends, they would need to contact NHS 111 to get an appointment with the GP Out of Hours Service.
• This may impact patients in and around Norwich that have more chaotic lives or who struggle to make or attend pre-booked appointments.
• We would expect improved health outcomes for patients of the GP practices given the additional funding. We would expect that the additional funding would help to prevent some people from developing health conditions, and it would treat other people earlier before their condition got worse.
• This approach would have benefits for patients across Norfolk and Waveney, not just those served by the GP practices that would be given the additional funding. For example, by preventing people from getting ill and treating people early, fewer people would end up needing emergency care provided by the ambulance service and our hospital emergency departments.

What would this mean for GP practices?

• GP practices that currently receive less funding per patient would receive more money to consider specific conditions and to improve access. We would expect the funding to help build the resilience of these GP practices so that they can care for their patients in a timely way.
• No GP practices would lose any funding; this option would provide additional funding to some GP practices.
• There would be additional requests for appointments at some GP practices. Most people (65%) using the Walk-In Centre are already registered with one of the 22 Norwich GP practices, so they would be more likely to be impacted. At the same time, GP practices in Norwich would also be likely to receive additional funding too through the fairer funding model.

The Walk-in Centre currently costs c£1.78m per year (for 2025/26). This option would save c£280,000 per year from April 2026.

There is more information about the funding of general practice if you would like more detail.

The other option we are considering is keeping the Walk-in Centre open but reducing the opening hours from 12 hours per day to four hours per day. The Walk-in Centre would open in the morning. This would match when the Walk-in Centre is currently at its busiest.

We would also invest £750,000 in GP practices across Norfolk and Waveney using a fairer funding formula. This would help to close the gap between the GP practices that receive the most money per patient and those that receive the least.

What would this mean for patients?

• When the Walk-in Centre was closed, patients would need to use other health services, such as their GP practice, local pharmacy or NHS 111 (which can book appointments with the GP Out of Hours service).
• We would expect improved health outcomes for patients of the GP practices given the additional funding. We would expect that the additional funding would help to prevent some people from developing health conditions, and it would treat other people earlier before their condition got worse.
• This approach would have benefits for patients across Norfolk and Waveney, not just those served by the GP practices that would be given the additional funding. For example, by preventing people from getting ill and treating people early, fewer people would end up needing emergency care provided by the ambulance service and our hospital emergency departments.

What would this mean for GP practices?

• There may be additional requests for appointments at some GP practices. Most people (65%) using the Walk-In Centre are already registered with one of the 22 Norwich GP practices, so they would be more likely to be impacted. At the same time, GP practices in Norwich would also be likely to receive additional funding too through the fairer funding model.
• GP practices that currently receive less funding per patient would receive more money to help people with specific conditions and to improve access. We would expect the funding to help build the resilience of these GP practices so that they can care for their patients in a timely way.
• No GP practices would lose any funding; this option would provide some additional funding to some GP practices.

The Walk-in Centre currently costs c£1.78m per year (for 2025/26). This option would save c£280,000 per year from April 2026.