LOCAL authorities are getting behind the fight against cuts in funding to GP practices in the Dales.

Richmondshire District Council and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority have thrown their weight behind the campaign to stop the Government abolishing the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG).

Richmondshire District Councillors voted unanimously to write to local MP William Hague about their concerns over the compensation payment made to GP Practices operating in deeply rural areas.

It addresses the lower amount of per capita income from patients who live in sparsely populated areas - and the extra cost of the time and travel GPs need to serve these remote and thinly spread communities.

In Upper Wensleydale alone this could mean a loss of £78,000 of MPIG – which could lead to the eventual closure of both the Hawes and the Aysgarth GP surgeries, forcing residents to look further afield for medical care.

“If we are unable to maintain our local GP surgeries it will be another nail in the coffin for rural living,” said council leader Councillor John Blackie.

“The Upper Dales will be in danger of losing its attraction to the young families we need to live here to make our communities sustainable and vibrant for the future”.

National Park authority chairman Peter Charlesworth said: “One of the main objectives of the new Yorkshire Dales National Park Management Plan, which reflects the views of visitors and those who live and work here, is to safeguard services essential to the long-term viability of local communities including retaining good access to primary health care services.

“Some of the GP practices in the National Park serve very isolated communities. Without the funding, the surgeries may have to close and the communities would be badly affected.”