We are moving

We know that over recent months we have mentioned that there would be some changes happening within the practice and we are now at a point where we can provide patients with a clear update on what this is, and what this will mean for everyone.

Many of you will already be aware that, due to structural damage at the front of our Fore Street building we have had to temporarily relocate the waiting room area to ensure the safety of both patients and staff and to enable us to continue to provide an area for people to wait.

As a practice we have reviewed our options around how we manage the building repairs while continuing to keep Fore Street building open and operational and we have concluded that, in fact, the best and safest approach for all would be to temporarily re locate our operations to a new site instead.

To help us identify a suitable temporary solution which is fit for purpose and suitable for our patient population we have been working closely with the owners of the previous Springmead Surgery and Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB).

We are pleased to announce that this work has now come to fruition, and we will be moving our Fore Street operations to the former Springmead Surgery site from Monday 14th April.

The new address is:

Ariel Healthcare

Summerfields Road

Chard

Somerset

TA20 2EW

While we appreciate that this is a change for patients, this move is essential in allowing us to complete the necessary remedial work at our Fore Street site, safely.

The Summerfields Road site, which is not too far from the current Fore Street location offers increased parking availability, and the Crowshute car park is also conveniently located immediately opposite.

We also want to reassure patients that this is the only thing changing - we will continue to provide our usual range of services from the new Summerfields Road location. And the way patients contact us will also remain the same – including our email address and telephone number.

Our St. Mary’s site will also remain fully functional and continue to serve patients without any changes.

For those patients who have an appointment booked on or after Monday 14th April at our Fore Street site, please be advised that this will take place at the same time but at our new location. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your understanding and patience during this period of transition. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this move, please do not hesitate to contact us at somicb.arielhealthcare@nhs.net