Walton Surgery in Felixstowe to close on March 31

Walton Surgery in Felixstowe will close its doors to patients on Tuesday 31st March.

Suffolk GP Federation have managed Walton Surgery since November 2016 however, due to difficulties recruiting permanent GP’s, the Federation Board concluded that it was no longer suitable to continue managing the Surgery. This is against a backdrop of  a national shortage of GP’s and ongoing recruitment and retention challenges affecting the whole country.

The NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) thoroughly investigated the possibility of another provider taking over the running of the Surgery, however this proved not possible resulting in the Surgery being permanently closed on Tuesday 31st March 2020.

The three other GP practices in Felixstowe – Howard House, Haven Health and The Grove – have confirmed that they have the capacity to take on additional patients. Patients will have received a letter confirming which of the three practices they have been allocated to and will be automatically registered at this practice as of Wednesday 1st April 2020.

For any further queries, or if you would like to make a complaint, please contact Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0800 389 6819 (Option 1) or email wsccg.pals@nhs.net (Open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm).

Alternatively, you can contact Healthwatch Suffolk who are independent from the NHS and are available to listen to patients’ experiences of health and social care in Suffolk. Call them on 01449 703 949 or email info@healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk