A HEALTH trust has been accused of breaking promises over new arrangements for GP cover in the upper dales.

In the first 12 days of a revamped system, five complaints were made about the time that patients, including a 75-year-old fall victim, waited for medical attention.

Coun John Blackie, chairman of North Yorkshire County Council health scrutiny committee, has taken up the cases with Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust.

He said the PCT, which takes over management of doctors' contracts this year, had failed to live up to a pledge made a month ago. Then, PCT chairman Chris Long promised people in rural parts of Richmondshire would receive an out-of-hours GP service "at least as good as the one they currently enjoy".

The Central Dales surgery at Hawes provided its own night-time and weekend cover until April 1, when it joined the North Yorkshire Emergency Doctor scheme.

Under the new arrangement, a patient telephones the former practice number and is automatically given another number to call. Details of this second call are sent to the medical centre at Catterick and a duty doctor calls the patient back and gives advice by phone, asks the patient to go to Catterick or attends the incident.

The Aysgarth GP surgery was earmarked as a satellite centre for the upper dales, though there was no guarantee that people could be seen there at all times.

People in upper Wensleydale say the system has already failed. In the latest incident, a 75-year-old coach passenger fell in the street at Hawes on Easter Monday.

Businesswoman Ruth Annison rang the surgery number and, following the instructions from a recorded message, telephoned another number, where details of the incident were relayed to the centre at Catterick. A doctor then telephoned back and Mrs Annison was left to call an ambulance.

She said the patient was lucky it was daytime when people could provide a phone, rug, tissues to wipe blood and local knowledge. The woman also had a companion who knew her identity.

"I dread to think what would happen if the patient was alone or having a heart attack, bleeding copiously, or if it had happened at night with a dark telephone box, insufficient loose change, no pen and paper, or someone who hadn't enough charge or money on their mobile, or who had a mobile that didn't work in our area," said Mrs Annison.

"There should only be one phone call to get help directly, and by that I mean a doctor on the end of the phone with the call centre staff.

"It needs no imagination at all to consider the terrible plight of any companions, let alone the patient, if the practical help needed to deal with breathing, choking or bleeding, or putting the patient in the recovery position, conflicts with the demands of making phone calls and trying to find a pen and paper to write down a second telephone number."

The First Responders scheme, which trains community volunteers in first aid, was welcome but should not be a substitute for full medical cover.

Continued on page 3