Leslie Johnson, member of Lakes Parish Council for Ambleside, said: “Clearly what we want to do is retain as many facilities as we can at Westmorland, bearing in mind we’re a county of great sparsity and great distance and people have to travel a long way.

"We don’t want to be travelling all the way down to Preston or Lancaster to get treatment.

"I would urge people to send in the coupons. It’s extremely important to the community.”