Dr Berge Balian – Primary Care Partner Member

Dr Berge Balian has been a GP at Crewkerne Health Centre since 1995.

He has been a representative of the GP practices in South Somerset on the Somerset Local Medical Committee (LMC) for the whole of his GP career, including a period as Committee Chair.

Dr Balian became Associate Medical Director for Primary Care at Yeovil Hospital in 2013 and supported the development of closer working between the hospital and the GP practices in South Somerset. This led to the locality being selected as a National Primary and Acute Care System (PACS) Vanguard site. The Symphony PACS Vanguard Programme was one of only 2 in England that was GP-led, and Dr Balian chaired the Symphony Programme Board for the first 18 months.

For the past seven years Dr Balian has combined his clinical work as a GP with the role of Medical Director for Symphony Healthcare Services (SHS), an NHS General Practice company that is now a subsidiary of Somerset Foundation Trust (but was established by Yeovil District Hospital) as part of the Symphony Programme; Symphony holds 17 General Practice contracts in Somerset providing care to approximately 123,000 patients in the county.

Dr Balian is also a member of the Somerset General Practice Provider Board, which represents the interests of GP practices in the Somerset Integrated Care System (ICS).

He was nominated by the GP practices to become the Primary Care Partner Member on the NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board at its inception.