HEALTH bosses have stepped in to ensure thousands of patients are not left without a family doctor.

The resignation of three out of five GPs at a busy practice in Gateshead - which meant that 2,750 patients of the Winlaton and Ryton Medical Partnership were told that primary care services were being withdrawn - has forced officials to intervene.

Gateshead Primary Care Trust is planning to open a surgery at the Ryton Clinic, which will be staffed by locum GPs.

But Dr Ken Megson, secretary of Gateshead Local Medical Committee warned that the continuing shortage of GPs willing to work in the North-East could make it difficult to recruit locums.

He said that any attempt to force other GPs in the area to take hundreds of extra patients could lead to further GP resignations.

"We are worried about a possible domino effect if it comes down to allocating patients," he said.

Dr Megson said high vacancy levels in Gateshead meant most GPs had far more patients on their lists than the national average.

Ideally, GPs should only have about 1,500 patients to look after but in some cases, GPs were looking after 3,500, he said.

Ian Thompson, chief executive of Gates-head Primary Care Trust, said: "I would like to reassure the patients affected that they will continue to receive a high quality service."

It is not known why the three Gateshead GPs are resigning. No one at the practice was available for comment.

Dr John Canning, a Middlesbrough doctor who sits on the British Medical Association's national GP Committee, said: "The chronic shortage of GPs means it takes much longer to fill vacancies. The way things are going, I think we could have many more practices run by locums employed by primary care trusts."