THE closure of the only nursing home in the upper Richmondshire dales is significant blow to the area, if somewhat inevitable.

It has been in receivership some months and it was announced this week its last resident must leave by Christmas.

With only 15 residents in its 28 rooms and facing increasing difficulty in attracting staff thanks to the area's sky-high housing costs, Thornton Lodge was not likely to prove a very attractive business proposition.

While it is praiseworthy that so many more elderly people can be effectively and safely looked after in their own homes, there is a category of the elderly person (usually very frail and confused) for which 24-hour nursing care is the only solution. There is now a large gap in health service provision in upper Wensleydale.

This is particularly hard for dales families. Traditionally close-knit, they will not take kindly to the idea of elderly relatives being shipped out of the area, perhaps even as far as Middlesbrough. Seventy to eighty-mile round trips to see relatives is another burden they do not deserve to shoulder.

Plans for an "extra care" sheltered housing scheme for the elderly in upper Wensleydale are at an early stage. The scheme would, to a large extent, fill the gap left by the Thornton Lodge closure. These plans need to be expedited quickly to close this gap in services.

It seems reasonable to ask whether it was not possible for the Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust and/or North Yorkshire County Council to provide some form of interim funding to keep Thornton Lodge open until the new unit could be brought on stream?