The fate of a closure-threatened GP surgery in Norfolk is finally set to be decided.
A decision to close Blakeney Surgery will be made on May 7 after Holt Medical Practice, which runs the site, applied to close the surgery.
The decision was previously deferred by NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) at a meeting in February.
Holt Medical Practice, which controversially withdrew its dispensary and face-to-face services at the surgery before the pandemic, said keeping it open would be too expensive.
It claims the cost of running the site was more than it received in funding, and that the building would need improvements worth £116,000 to bring it up to modern standards.
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The decision to close the rural surgery would leave hundreds of elderly people cut off from healthcare services.
Blakeney has a population of about 700, with more than 40pc of people living in the village being over 65.
The closure would mean they would face journeys of up to five hours via public transport to get to Melton Constable Surgery, the nearest branch of Holt Medical Practice.
Even to get to Kelling, where Holt Medical Practice is based, would mean a six to seven-mile journey.
'The loss of yet another service in a rural area would be deplorable'
Duncan Baker, MP for North Norfolk, said the decision will not only affect people in Blakeney but residents in surrounding villages who rely on the local service.
"I deeply regret this decision by Holt Medical Practice," he said.
"It disadvantages some of the most vulnerable people in society and the loss of yet another service in a rural area would be deplorable.
"I do hope the ICB will take full account of the views very clearly expressed by local people, and will rule that the surgery must remain open and restore services to those in place before Covid, with full access to health professionals at a local venue.”
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'People are angry and worried about how they are going to cope'
Rosemary Thew, chairman of Blakeney Parish Council, said elderly people in the village are worried about how they will cope if the surgery closes.
"It will affect a lot of people in Blakeney and the surrounding areas who use the surgery," she said.
"The point we’ve been trying to get across all the way through is the fundamental right to healthcare. Whether you live in a remote village or the centre of a town, it’s exactly the same right - but that is being discarded.
“The disappointment in the village is going to be immense. People are angry about this decision and they are worried about how they are going to cope.
“The point put forward by Holt Medical Practice is that it can’t afford to run the surgery alongside its main surgery and other satellite surgery in Melton Constable.
"We don’t believe that is a well-founded argument. We believe they could bring the surgery up to standard if they wanted to.
"This will be a regrettable decision which will have a big and bad impact on the village – not just Blakeney but all the villages nearby."
'Patients think the future for their health looks bleak'
Victoria Holliday, North Norfolk District Council's vice-chairman, whose Coastal ward covers Blakeney, said: "Blakeney Surgery patients think the future for their health looks bleak.
"They’re going to have to travel up to 20 miles to see a doctor or nurse or even pick up their meds. Those without a car - which is almost a fifth - face a gruelling cross-country journey by bus, of up to seven hours.
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"This doesn’t seem fair to them when they’re told the average patient in north Norfolk is only a couple of miles from their nearest surgery. Aren’t all patients meant to be able to access the same level of healthcare? Why should Blakeney Surgery patients be penalised simply because of where they live?
"Patients have flagged up to me that a similar practice in Wales was stopped from closing its branch surgery by the local health board, even though it was only four miles from the main surgery site - not seven as it is in Blakeney."
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