Local retired doctor awarded the British Empire Medal in 2025 King’s Honours list

Local retired GP, Dr Harvey Sampson has been awarded the prestigious British Empire Medal (BEM) in the King’s Birthday Honours list for 2025, that recognises the outstanding achievements of people across the UK.

The announcement was made this week, along with a further six health and care workers in the south west who were recognised in Honours list. The doctors, nurses, therapist, and volunteer community first responder received awards for their hard work and dedication to helping people and communities across the NHS and health care settings.

Dr Sampson is a GP, who will be known to many people in the local community of Highbridge and Burnham on Sea, who has dedicated his career in healthcare to supporting the delivery and development of GP services in Somerset.

After qualifying in medicine at St Marys Hospital, Paddington, Dr Sampson moved to Somerset in 1979 to train as a GP in Taunton.  He then worked as a GP in Somerset for over 40 years, for most of those years as a GP partner in Burnham on Sea Medical Centre, providing and developing high quality general practice services to patients within the area, including the development of a new practice estate to modernise healthcare provision and enable the expansion of healthcare services to the local community.

While working as a GP, Dr Sampson held a variety of other roles in both the commissioning and general practice provider sector, supporting the wider healthcare system as a member of the executive committee of Somerset Primary Care Trust for a number of years, and as an expert GP advisor to Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group on a number of projects.

Dr Sampson has also supported general practice in the county as a member of the Somerset Local Medical Committee for many years, including as committee chair between the years of 2000 and 2004. He also took on the important role as a GP trainer for many years, hosting medical students at Burnham on Sea, who went on to successfully become GPs in Somerset.

In April 2017, Dr Sampson returned from retirement and took on the role of GP clinical lead at Highbridge Medical Centre, part of Symphony Healthcare Services, a large at-scale local NHS provider of primary care services, which is owned by our trust. Here, he worked with colleagues to successfully implement new systems and processes to support essential improvements to services and secure the future of the surgery and its ability to provide high quality care.

In April 2019, Dr Sampson, took on the role as director for strategic development in Symphony Healthcare Services where he continued to provide clinical leadership and expertise and has been integral to the development and improvement of general practice services for the local population in Somerset, until his retirement last year.

On receiving the news, Dr Sampson says: "I am absolutely delighted to have been included in this year’s Kings birthday honours list. To be recognised for my work with the award of British Empire Medal is a huge honour, and it has been a privilege to help care for patients in Somerset over the years.”

Kerry White, managing director of Symphony Healthcare Services, says: “We are thrilled that Dr Sampson has been included on the Kings Honours List, this is wonderful recognition of the commitment and passion that he has devoted to the development of local NHS healthcare services, particularly in the Burnham and Highbridge area for more than 40 years.

“Dr Sampson is an incredible leader and clinician, who has helped us to make significant improvements at both Highbridge Medical Centre and Burnham and Berrow Medical Centre, working with practice teams to put in place new systems and processes to improve clinical standards and enable both practices to achieve a Care Quality Commission (CQC) ‘Good’ rating from the previous ‘Inadequate’ rating at both practices.

“We’d like to share our congratulations and say a huge thank you to Dr Sampson for his kind, caring approach and unwavering dedication to ensuring the sustainability of the local healthcare community for future generations.”