Patients at two south Bucks GP surgeries are being invited to have their say on plans to merge together.

Hawthornden Surgery, in Bourne End, and Pound House Surgery, in Wooburn Green, which also operates the Orchard Surgery in Bourne End, want to come together to become one surgery from next April.

All three surgeries will stay open and continue to run as usual under the plans, with health bosses saying patients would be “unlikely” to notice any “significant disruption” to the services they receive, adding that the merger would give patients greater access to GPs, nurses and other primary care support services.

They said the surgeries would combine back office functions to become a “single efficient larger” GP practice with “more resources to draw upon”, and allow patients to book their appointments more easily.

A GP at Hawthornden Surgery said the merger would create “resilience” within the practices.

Dr Peter Newman said: “This is an exciting bringing together of two practices who were one in the past.

“General practice is evolving so that clustering and merging of practices is becoming more commonplace.

“It will create resilience within the practices and help wrap-around services such as evolving integrated care teams.

“This will benefit patient care, avoid duplication and make delivery of healthcare more targeted to patients with specific needs.”

Dr Sarah Buxton, GP at Hawthornden Surgery, said: “This merger will bring benefits for our patients, enabling us as clinicians to continue to offer high quality and diverse services from each of our practice premises, while streamlining some systems and making the most of a greater pool of expertise among our staff.

“All this should be good news for our patients, and we are eager to hear their feedback so we can address any concerns they might have.

“Both practices have recently been rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission.

“As a merged practice we want to continue to deliver improved services for all our patients and especially those with long term conditions like diabetes or heart disease, and ensure we are able to better support them with self-care and care planning.”

The Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Groups confirmed patients’ registration would remain unaffected by the proposed merger.

Drop-in sessions will be held at both practices, on dates and times to be confirmed, where patients can ask questions and find out what the merger might mean for them.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can write to Anne Ronan (Practice Manager) at Hawthornden Surgery, Wharf Lane, Wooburn Green, Bourne End SL8 5RX, or email hawthornden.management@nhs.net.

Comments must be submitted before February 12 next year.