UPDATE 9th January 2026 – Changes to previously communicated dates
Due to delays outside of our control, the date of the merge of our clinical systems has had to be postponed to a later date. We apologise for any inconvenience or confusion that this has caused.
Please read the following carefully, as these actions are still required of patients, however the dates have changed.
Repeat Prescriptions
If you need repeat medication between Saturday 07 February and Tuesday 17 February 2026, please submit your request on or before Friday 06 February 2026.
Click here for more information about repeat prescriptions →
Anima
Our online consultation system, Anima, will be closed from Monday 09 February to Tuesday 17 February 2026. All existing requests in the system will be dealt with appropriately by our team.
During this time, please call the surgery for any requests.
Appointments
In the lead-up to the merger, the practice will have limited capacity. We will prioritise urgent and acute issues, which will be determined by our clinical team.
Please provide as much detail as possible when contacting us so we can support you appropriately.
Routine issues can continue to be submitted from Wednesday 18 February.
Click here for more information about Anima and appointments during this period →
Normal services, including repeat prescriptions, routine blood tests and Anima access, will resume on Wednesday 18 February 2026.
You can also read a letter detailing all of the above by clicking here: Letter to Hamdon Medical Centre patients 012026
You can also read more information about these changes and previous communications relating to the merger by clicking on the links below:
Previous Communication
You can find our up to date Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document below:
UPDATE Thursday 19th November
Following a busy engagement period with patients and local stakeholders, we are pleased to confirm that earlier this month, the NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board confirmed its approval of the proposal to merge the surgeries and therefore the practices are now working towards combining their contracts in mid January 2026.
This change will enable our teams to access and update one shared patient medical record system to more efficiently care for our population and will bring together all four practices sites (across seven sites) into one primary care contract.
As you may already know, Buttercross & Ilchester Surgery, Crewkerne Health Centre: Middle Path & West One, Hamdon Medical Centre and Martock & South Petherton Surgery make up the South Somerset West Primary Care Network. All four practices are also part of the Symphony Healthcare Services (Symphony) group – a large-scale primary care and NHS provider in Somerset, and subsidiary of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
Since joining Symphony, the practice teams have been supported to implement new systems and processes to make essential improvements. As a result, all practices have maintained a ‘Good’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Over the last year, our practice teams have been working increasingly closer, to provide greater support and resilience to the workforce across the four sites and to develop new innovative ways of working to help improve patient experience. We would now like to share our proposal to combine the contracts of the four practices together.
Further information regarding this proposal can be found below: