Get the right care and support at Get the right care and support - Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System

Here you can find information on the local pharmacies in the East of England that have been commissioned by NHS England to be open over the Christmas holiday period.  For opening times of other pharmacies, visit the NHS website ‘Find a pharmacy‘ page where you can enter your postcode to find out the opening times of pharmacies near to you.  You  can also scan the QR code below to take you directly to the webpage.

Alternatively, if you do not have access to the internet, please ask a relative or friend to check for you.

Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes
Hertfordshire & West Essex
Mid & South Essex
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
Suffolk & North East Essex
Norfolk & Waveney – Christmas Day and Boxing Day
Norfolk & Waveney – New Year’s Day

The above information was correct at time of publication (11 December 2025)

Your local pharmacy can give you advice on a range of conditions and suggest medicines that can help.

Some pharmacies may be able to offer treatment and some prescription medicine for some conditions, without you needing to see a GP (this is called Pharmacy First).   Conditions they can treat as part of Pharmacy First are:

• earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
• impetigo (aged 1 year and over)
• infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
• shingles (aged 18 years and over)
• sinusitis (aged 12 years and over)
• sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
• urinary tract infections or UTIs (women aged 16 to 64 years)

Other services pharmacies provide include:

• advice on medicines
• disposal of old medicines
• help with new medicines
• emergency contraception
• free blood pressure checks

For more information on the services pharmacies provide, including a find your local pharmacy application, please visit www.nhs.uk

Dispensary Opening Hours

The surgery will close at 6.30pm on Christmas Eve (Wednesday 24th December 2025) and will reopen at 8.00am on Monday 29th December 2025. It will then be closed from 6.30pm on New Years Eve (Wednesday 31st December 2025) and will reopen at 8.00am on Friday 2nd January 2026. If patients need medical help during this time, they should call 111 (or visit www.nhs111), or in an emergency, dial 999.

Please be aware that Blackwater Dispensary will close at 4:30pm on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Please ensure that you order your medication in a timely manner before the festive period.

The Community Pharmacy will remain open until 9pm on Christmas Eve. The Community Pharmacy will be open 11.00am - 3pm on Christmas Day but will be closed Boxing Day and New Years Day.

We take this opportunity of wishing all our patients and their families a peaceful and happy festive period!

Calling all young carers........get your voice heard.   Please refer to the poster below for more information about this opportunity!

Young Carers

Last Tuesday of every month (except December) you are invited to the Maldon United Reformed Church between 10.00am and 12.00pm to find out what's available in the local community. Please see poster below for more details.

Essex Dementia Care has over fifteen years of experience helping people with dementia continue to live active and fulfilling lives. Please see poster below for more information.

Our next dementia support clinic will be on Friday 9th January 2026 between 10.00am and 1.00pm at the Heybridge surgery.

If anyone would like to book an appointment, please leave your details at reception, or alternatively email blackwater.medicalcentre@nhs.net in the first instance.

Stand Up To Cancer 2025 campaign will take place from 5-12 December, with Cancer Research UK joining forces with Channel 4 for a week-long awareness campaign to raise funds and encourage people to attend screening. 

A simple online screening checker has been developed by the campaign organisers and will be launched on 5th December, which is designed to help people quickly see what screening programmes they may be eligible for.  A live broadcast is also planned for the evening of 12 December.

FREE service supporting people living with dementia, their carers, family and friends. Providing support, advice, signposting, fun activities and refreshments.

Plantation Hall, Heybridge CM9 4AL
Wednesday 1st October 2025, 1.00pm - 3.00pm

Working together for Essex - Dementia Friends, Kinder Essex, Essex Wellbeing Service, RCCE, Essex County Council

Blackwater Medical Centre are hosting a dementia support clinic on Friday 10th October 2025
Appointments currently available at 10am, 11am and 12pm at the Heybridge Surgery

Please contact Reception in the first instance

For Autumn 2025, COVID-19 vaccination will be offered to:

• Adults aged 75 years and over
• Residents in care homes for older adults
• Individuals who are immunosuppressed.  We are only vaccinating adults aged over 18
• Patients can also book their appointment online

This represents a change from the Autumn 2024 programme, which also included adults aged 65 to 74 and all those aged 6 months and over in a clinical risk group.

The vaccine should usually be offered no earlier than around 6 months after the last vaccine dose.

We are currently holding clinics for eligible groups on Saturday 4^th and Saturday 11th October.   Please book for these clinics after 2pm Monday - Friday

Need Housing Advice?  Call 0800 048 7967

Mounjaro

From 1st July 2025, you can now book your routine X-ray online!

If your clinician referrers you for a routine X-ray, you should bе contacted within two working days. 

Depending on the type of examination, you may receive a text message, inviting you to make an appointment using our booking portal called Swiftqueue.

Please follow the instructions to login / register an account. This will allow you to choose an appointment time that is most convenient for you, without the need of contacting the hospital directly.

If you have not heard from us after two working days, please contact the Hospital's Radiology Appointments team directly - contact details can be found on the Mid and South Essex Hospitals' website:
www.mse.nhs.uk/radiology-services

On 23rd June 2025, it was announced that people living with obesity will be able to begin accessing tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) for weight loss purposes in primary care settings. However, the national roll out does not mean all people will be able to get a prescription for tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) on this day.

Weight management services are locally commissioned at an Integrated Care Board (ICB) level. In mid and south Essex, access to tirzepatide will initially be through specialist weight management services only. Access to tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) through primary care is not expected to start in mid and south Essex until later in 2025.

NHS Mid and South Essex ICB has provided information on tirzepatide on its website - Visit the website for more information.

Due to the demand for our dementia support clinics, we are hosting another clinic on Friday 10th October 2025. If you would like more information, please leave your details at reception and someone will contact you.

Alternatively, email us at blackwater.medicalcentre@nhs.net

A safe space for people to learn new skills, expand on existing ones, and attend FREE courses developed to support mental health recovery.

Bite Size Skills

So far this year (January - March 2025) there were 16,974 appointments

484 appointments were booked, not attended and not cancelled.  

Please ensure that if you cannot keep your appointment, you let us know as soon as possible so that another patient can have it.   This is a complete waste of time and resource, and we ask our patients to please be considerate to others.   There is now an option on the phone system to cancel appointments to make it easier.

From 31st March 2025, the ICB will no longer be funding e-consult as they are trying to streamline their digital service. The chosen provider will be Accurx. Some patients may have already seen this with blood pressure monitoring.

The NHS app is still available if patients should prefer to continue using this route.

How does Accurx work?

1. A patient’s request comes in through a structured form submitted online, over the phone or by visiting the practice.
2. All requests enter a shared inbox that’s fully integrated with your clinical system.
3. The surgery team action the requests, triaging and signposting patients based on clinical need.

getUBetter is working in partnership with the NHS to provide digital support for all muscle and joint problems. See the attached information to find out how to download the app for all common musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries and conditions such as back, neck or knee pain, as well as pelvic floor health.

GetUBetter information

Evening and weekend appointments are available at this GP practice or at an NHS service nearby.