A MP has berated the government’s decision in failing to intervene over cuts to an out-of-hours GP service.

Tim Farron, the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, urged the Secretary of State for Health Steve Barclay in the House of Commons to step in over controversial plans to reduce the out-of-hours GP service at Westmorland General Hospital.

Cumbria Health on Call (CHoC) operates the out-of-hours primary contract for all of Cumbria.

From next month there will be no service from Kendal’s hospital between 2am-8am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Instead the service will operate from Barrow and Penrith which Mr Farron says will result in vulnerable people having to wait much longer to receive vital palliative care.

Speaking during Health Questions in Parliament, Mr Farron said: "Plans to remove overnight primary care clinicians from the Westmorland General Hospital three nights a week are a massive risk to our community.

“It means that people overnight will be reliant on Barrow or Penrith for an out-of-hours doctor.”

David Glover, the chief operating officer for CHoC, previously said: "This is after a period of analysis that demonstrates that the requirement for the service is very much reduced and those patients who do require attention would still have access to the service they require."

The Cumbrian MP encouraged the Health Secretary to instruct the ICB to intervene in order to protect people in South Lakeland, which Mr Barclay said he was happy to look into, but overall he was frustrated with the outcome.

“I’m bitterly disappointed with the Secretary of State’s cloth-eared response,” Farron added.

“The planned cuts to the out-of-hours GP service pose a huge risk to our community and yet the Minister has decided to pretty much wash his hands of the matter.

“The only crumb of comfort is that the Minister did say he would look into this issue and so I will be following this up to him in writing setting out the clear problems that these cuts represent.”

Craig Harris, chief of strategy from NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board previously said: "There is currently little to no activity between 2am and 8am Tuesday to Thursday at Westmorland General, whereas services in Barrow are struggling to meet demand. CHoC has confirmed that if anyone is in need of a face-to-face appointment during these hours the GP from Penrith can be with them in around 30 minutes.

“We do however understand the concerns raised. The contract for this service has been inherited by the ICB and does not specify the locations of staff. We will work with CHoC to ensure a satisfactory service is available for all people living across South Cumbria, no matter what part of the area they are in.”