Coniston villagers say they are being put at risk by "inadequate care" from the new out-of-hours GP service, reports Jennie Dennett.

The parish council has called a public meeting after residents complained that the system was too slow and they were being forced to travel for an hour or more to get treatment for seriously ill elderly relatives and children.

"If someone is taken ill it is frightening," said parish councillor Anne Hall. "One chap of 90 had pains in his chest. Half-an-hour after he called he was told he would have to wait until a doctor was free from Barrow. They ended up ringing 999 to be sure someone would come."

In another case parents had to take a child having an asthma attack to Barrow while another woman with bad stomach pains was told to get to Kendal.

"She was in such a state she couldn't drive," said Coun Hall. "They said get a taxi'. But in some of these villages you can't get a taxi and what of the cost?"

The complaints follow the demise in October of a local GP co-operative run by doctors in Hawkshead, Coniston and Greenodd who provided cover for each other at evenings and weekends.

Out-of-hours care is now provided centrally by Baycall, run by the Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust. Patients' needs are assessed over the phone by a nurse or GP and, if immediate treatment is needed, they get a booked appointment at Furness General Hospital, in Barrow, or at Kendal's Westmorland General Hospital.

Home visits are offered "where necessary" but residents complain they are not being offered it quickly enough and they have lost the personal contact with GPs who knew their medical history.

Coniston resident Elizabeth Brown has filed an official complaint after she was forced to drive her gasping 73-year-old husband Roy to Barrow. Mr Brown had a temperature and was wheezing and coughing on New Year's day having had a pacemaker fitted ten days earlier.

"It's a 50-mile round trip in freezing cold weather. If he had a heart attack, in two or three places on the road I would not have been able to phone for help on the mobile. I felt very vulnerable.

"People are frightened. This is in no way a comment on our GPs, they are excellent. My complaint is the alternative out-of-hours provision is not good enough."

Alison Morgan, of Baycall, said she could not comment on individual complaints but she was satisfied that patients were not being put at risk. It was also not unreasonable to ask people to travel to the Kendal or Barrow treatment centres.

"Patients are clinically assessed and a judgement is made about whether they are fit to travel or whether they require a home visit.

"We are not struggling for cash. We are able to fill all the GP and nurse shifts. What we are seeing is people are experiencing a different type of service than in the past. It's a bigger step change for people in Coniston and Hawkshead."

Ms Morgan added that Baycall would be attending a Coniston Parish Council meeting on March 21, at 7pm, in Coniston Library, to hear people's views to help evolve the service.