Symphony Healthcare Services currently manages seven doctors’ surgeries across four contracts within the South Somerset West primary care network (PCN), in addition to other surgeries across the county.

The provider – a subsidiary of the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust – has announced that it will formally combine these four contracts, allowing it to offer a wider range of services to patients across all seven sites

The NHS Somerset integrated care board (ICB – which decides how health funding is allocated across the county) is expected to sign off on the proposals at the end of September.

The South Somerset West PCN currently comprises the following GP surgeries:

  • Crewkerne Health Centre, Middle Path, Crewkerne

  • West One Surgery, A30 West Street, Crewkerne

  • The Ilchester Surgery, B3151 Church Street, Ilchester

  • Martock Surgery, Church Street, Martock

  • The Buttercross Health Centre, Behind Berry, Somerton

  • South Petherton Medical Centre, Bernard Way, South Petherton

  • Hamdon Medical Centre, Matt’s Lane, Stoke-sub-Hamdon

Ilchester Surgery is currently run under the same contract as the Buttercross Health Centre, with a similar arrangement being in place between Martock and South Petherton.

Each of the practices currently enjoy a ‘good’ rating following inspections by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

In a letter to patients on Tuesday (July 29) – seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service – the practices said merging their contracts would build on existing co-operation between the current staff and lead to a wider variety of services being delivered.

The letter stated: “Over the last year, our practice teams have been working increasingly closer.

“This has been to provide greater support and resilience to the workforce across the sites and to develop new innovative ways of working to help improve patient experience.

“In December 2024, the practices introduced a new central contact hub to manage all phone calls. Subsequently, a central community investigation hub was developed for important tests linked to secondary care requests.

“This has been followed by an acute hub to triage and care for patients who require a same-day urgent appointment, helping the practices to provide urgent care in a timely manner.

“These hubs and new ways of working have helped to streamline processes, reduce duplication, and share best practice.

“The next step to ensure fully aligned team working is to formally join the practice contracts into one. This will enable us to work from one shared medical record system.

“This will allow patients to access services across all surgery sites and enable our staff to provide a more seamless and efficient service, strengthening the provision of local care.

“We expect the proposal to enable teams to explore opportunities to develop additional healthcare services that meet the needs of the local community across the sites and improve patient choice.”

If the changes are approved, each patient will remain registered at their current practice but would be able to request appointments at any of the seven sites or access any of the services offered in a given location – such as dermatology or specialists in women’s health.

To give your views on the proposed changes, visit www.hamdonmc.co.uk/sswpcn-proposal/ and follow the link within the patient letter by August 25.

The NHS Somerset ICB said it would be supporting Symphony during this process and confirmed a final decision would be taken several weeks after this consultation period had concluded.

A spokesperson said: “We are supporting Symphony Healthcare Service to develop plans to deliver the best possible healthcare services to their patients in Somerset.

“The plans around possible mergers will be discussed at our strategic commissioning committee in September, when patient and staff engagement will be considered as part of their overall plans.”