No doctors apply to take over village GP practice
BBCPatients have said they will not accept the loss of their local GP service after no-one applied to take over the practice.
In March 2025, the impending retirement of Coniston's GP saw the parish council team up with Cumbrian residents and local film-makers to create an ad campaign aimed at attracting a new village doctor.
But almost a year on, no applicants have come forward to fill the vacancy.
The NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it would consider options for how patients could continue to receive services and for now the practice would be run by the Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative.
The Coniston Patient Group, which has fought for more than a decade to keep the surgery open, said: "We will not accept the loss of our GP service without a renewed and determined effort to find a provider.
"We have demonstrated overwhelming local support and a clear clinical need."
Along with the recruitment video, the group gathered a petition with more than 1,000 signatures in support of the surgery being kept open.
It has now called on the ICB to:
- Widen the search for a replacement GP
- To "actively seek" new providers
- Guarantee a GP service is retained in the village
In August, the Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative took over the running of Coniston Medical Practice, but the contract was only granted for six months.
The Coniston Patient Group also said it believed releasing the contract for the position on 23 December "severely limited" interest from potential applicants.
"Coniston deserves sustainable, local patient care – and we will fight on to secure it," the group said.
Director of primary care at NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, Peter Tinson, said the group allowed an extra two weeks over the standard 30 days for any interested parties to prepare their bid.
He also said the ICB would provide a decision on the future of the service as soon as it was able to.
