Plans emerge for new NHS pharmacy in Blofield near Norwich

The Blofield Surgery, in Plantation Road, has written to patients in Blofield and Brundall about the possibility of extending its service to help cope with a "huge expansion of housing". 

The practice currently offers a dispensary service, which only allows patients living more than a mile away from a pharmacy to collect prescriptions. 

Blofield Surgery in Plantation Road (Image: Google Maps)

But fresh proposals submitted to NHS England would see the site extended to also include an on-site pharmacy.

"A pharmacy can issue prescriptions created anywhere in the UK, to any patient," reads the letter from the surgery. 

READ MORE: MP pleads with NHS after third pharmacy closure in his area

"They must have a pharmacy working on site.

"They are also able to offer many more additional services like contraception, vaccinations and more services are being added shortly such as minor ailments.

The letter sent to patients (Image: Submitted)

"They can also sell pharmaceutical products. We are not permitted to provide any of these additional services from our current dispensary."

The plans come amid warnings a major housing boom in the area could push vital services to the brink.

READ MORE: Plans for another housing development revealed for rural village

Villages including Brundall, Blofield, Postwick and Hemblington are set to get more than 600 new homes as part of the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP).

Steps to address these concerns have included the approval of a new 420-place school near the Blofield Surgery. 

Broadland District councillor Paul Newstead (Image: Broadland District Council)

"More people are moving here," said Paul Newstead, a Broadland district councillor for the area.

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"The school is doubling in size and the more facilities we can give residents the better.

"A new pharmacy is a good idea and makes sense."

Blofield Surgery has applied to the NHS for a pharmacy to be part of an extension to its facilities and asked locals to fill out letters of support on its website.

The news comes as NHS data shows that nearly 1,000 pharmacies shut in England between July 2017 and July 2023.

A spokesman from NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board confirmed the application.

They added: "Applications can take several months to process and are then considered by the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations Committee who assess the application in accordance with NHS Pharmaceutical Regulations."