AN MP says doctors and National Health Service officials are "at war" over cuts to an out-of-hours GP service.

David Curry, MP for Skipton and Ripon, met 11 concerned doctors from Ripon and the wider area who are deeply concerned about the cutbacks.

Mr Curry said after the meeting: "Two groups of people delivering health care in my constituency are at war with each other, there is no other expression for it."

The growing row was sparked by a decision of the Craven, Harrogate and Rural District Primary Care Trust (PCT) to cut back on the costs of running out-of-hours services in the Ripon area.

Under the scheme, most out-of-hour services will be provided from Harrogate, apart from Saturday and Sunday morning appointments at Ripon Community Hospital. Weekday evening out-of-hours services from Ripon look set to disappear completely from June.

Until recently, the out-of-hours service was run by North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors, which went into administration. It is now run directly by the PCT.

Mr Curry said he had been able to arrange a meeting between both sides for today.

PCT director Janet Probert said concern about reduced hours at the Primary Care Centre in Ripon was based on a mistaken assumption that the service would diminish.

She said the centre would still operate at times when it was known there would be a demand for its services. Demand for weekday evenings and weekend afternoons had been extremely low.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people are signing protest petitions over the cutbacks in the Ripon area.