PROPOSALS to halve night time GP cover across York and Selby have been heavily criticised by the former chairman of the body which once ran out-of-hours doctor care in the region.

Dr James MacLeod, a York GP who was chairman of North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors (NYED) for eight years, said proposals to axe one of the overnight doctors covering York and Selby would mean patient care would suffer.

Earlier this month, the Evening Press exclusively revealed how the cash-strapped Selby and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) was proposing to cut the number of doctors working the night shift covering York and Selby from two to one. The cut would save the PCT £300,000 a year.

Worried GPs have branded the proposal "dangerous", saying it would put the 270,000 patients within the area, which runs from south of Selby to north of Easingwold, at risk. Dr MacLeod said today: "I think the effect, unfortunately, will be a reduction in the care that patients can expect to receive. It will mean that more patients go to hospital.

"If you're the working doctor and you're called to Easingwold, and you get something the other side of Selby which you're concerned about, it may take you an hour-and-a-half to get there. GPs are actually very cost effective. I think it's potentially dangerous."

Some patients, particularly the elderly, would be affected by being sent to hospital rather than being allowed to remain at home where they would be more stable, he added.

He said the PCT's argument that nurses were now better trained and able to deal with many more medical issues was "unfair to nurses".

Selby MP John Grogan has said the proposed reduction of night time GPs would be "a cut too far".

Dr David Geddes, a York GP and the PCT's primary care medical director, said: "I would strongly reject the suggestion that nurses are not part of a modern out-of-hours service - they are an intrinsic and vital part."They (NYED) were developing a service that was largely doctor-led, which is completely out of step with modern health care.

"What we're trying to do is develop a service which is focussed on developing and training the needs of patients. There are many cases where a patient can have a far more appropriate consultation with a nurse than a doctor. We're trying to develop a co-ordinated approach to out-of-hours which is both clinically effective and cost effective."

Updated: 09:50 Thursday, March 23, 2006