The situation with the Reeth medical practice is a disgraceful mess - Yorkshire Post Letters

The situation with the Reeth medical practice is a disgraceful mess. The doctor in this one doctor practice gave notice in December that he was to retire at the end of May. The mysterious body who are responsible for dealing with this situation is the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (the ICB) failed to communicate with patients until there was less than eight weeks left on the clock.

The ICB has vague plans to distribute the patients to practices in Hawes, Leyburn and Richmond. The Richmond practices knew nothing about this until they read it on Facebook. They have pointed out that a home visit will require an hour's travelling plus the time with the patient.

Travel to practices in Hawes and Leyburn involves crossing high moorland, a potential problem in winter of which the ICB is probably unaware as it sits in its warm offices in Harrogate and Hull.

All the alternative practices are about ten miles away and public transport is practically non-existent. What do you do if you do not own a car?

The law requires that, in these circumstances, a public consultation should be held with an impact assessment on the local community but this has not happened and North Yorkshire Council has done nothing. Rishi Sunak, our MP, initially accepted the situation and has since U-turned, prompted no doubt by the community outcry. The ICB says "all avenues to find a replacement doctor have been exhausted". But have they?

Lib Dem policy is supportive of rural medical practices and Tim Farron MP has kept two practices operating in the Lake District when the authorities wanted to close them and has taken the fight for a third to Westminster.

If rural communities in the Dales are to survive we need a similar response in North Yorkshire. Anything less would be a huge betrayal of the people of Upper Dales and the wider Richmondshire district.