Two Gorleston medical practices have announced plans to merge in a bid to improve services and meet increasing demand.

Central Healthcare Centre, in Sussex Road, and Gorleston Medical Centre, at Shrublands in Magdalen Way, will merge from October 1.

Hopton Surgery, which is a branch surgery of Gorleston Medical Centre, will also be part of the new partnership, which will be known as The Beaches Medical Centre.

The practices care for a combined total of 25,000 registered patients and it is hoped the merger will help the surgeries to meet increasing demand for healthcare services by sharing staff and pooling resources.

Dawn Barnham, practice manager at Gorleston Medical Centre, said: “By joining forces, we can improve efficiency by making the best use of our time and resources, as well as offering patients more flexibility about where they have their appointment.

“We truly believe this merger will allow us to offer more to our patients than we would be able to do alone.”

Dawn Reeve, practice manager at Central Healthcare Centre, said: “We are committed to providing high quality GP services and would like to assure our patients that they will continue to receive a high level of care when this merger is complete.

“By working together, we can reduce our use of locum doctors, and increase the availability of alternative clinicians, such as physiotherapists and counsellors, which means patients will be provided with greater continuity of care and choice.

“Joining forces will also ensure we can make the most effective use of our resources, in turn future-proofing the services we provide for our patients.”

The new name for the merged practices was chosen by staff in a competition.

Patients do not need to take any action ahead of the merger and can continue to access healthcare as normal.

Patients will be able to book appointments at any of the surgeries and computer systems at all three sites will also be linked, enabling patients to receive care at the site of their choice.

The Care Quality Commission’s most recent inspections of the surgeries resulted in overall ratings of ‘good’ at Gorleston Medical Centre and ‘requires improvement’ at Central Healthcare Centre.