CLOUDS of uncertainty over the provision of health services for North Yorkshire residents seem to be almost continually on the horizon.

It is well-established that government health funding is significantly less for the county than in many urban, and in some ways, more deprived areas. This is despite the fact that the area has a high proportion and rapidly rising number of elderly people, who use health services more regularly.

Those deciding where the money is spent in North Yorkshire are always going to face tough challenges.

While the area’s MPs have, in recent weeks and months, expressed mounting concern over plans to change services, NHS chiefs say patients should trust in them to deliver the best services they can afford.

At a meeting in Thirsk earlier this year, NHS officials admitted they were acutely aware of people’s mistrust.

With this in mind, Richmond MP Rishi Sunak’s statement that any downgrading of the obstetrics service in Darlington would amount to a “significant breach of trust”, following undertakings given when the Friarage Hospital’s maternity unit was downgraded, appear particularly pertinent.

Sue Jacques, chief executive of the County Durham trust, affirmed that the Darlington consultant-led maternity service would be retained at a North Yorkshire County Council meeting two years ago. Similar assurances were given at a series of public engagement events in North Yorkshire at the time.

It would be altogether less painful than learning of regular incremental cutbacks, and it might help rebuild trust, if those with the purse strings laid their coppers on the table.