Pharmacy, dentistry, and optometry commissioning from April 2023

From Saturday 1 April 2023, NHS Somerset will be responsible for the commissioning and management of pharmaceutical, ophthalmic and dental (POD) services in the county.

These services have previously been commissioned and managed by NHS England, but this change will mean that NHS Somerset will be responsible for a broader range of functions and enabling, to have a greater flexibility to integrate services across care pathways, ensuring continuity for patients and improved health outcomes for the local population.

This change is a significant milestone towards the move to a system-based approach to improvement and stronger partnership working as set out in the NHS England operating framework. 

Patients should not be impacted by this transition, and services should see no change due to this delegation.

Complaints for these services will continue to be managed by NHSE until July, along with other correspondence before being managed locally.

For more information on this page, please: visit the commissioning page on NHS England’s website.