A LAKE District GP surgery has been saved from closure following a long community campaign.
Coniston GP Surgery is now safe from closure after a new provider has finally been found, local NHS bosses have revealed.
Dr Andy Knox, the acting medical director for Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, made the important announcement at a meeting on April 17 at John Ruskin School.
It comes after there were no bids to take on the surgery after the previous GPs retired last July.
The surgery has since been run by a caretaker service.
More details of the new Coniston GP provider surgery will be provided in the coming weeks, according to health bosses.
Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, has been at the forefront of the fight to save the surgery from closure.
Mr Farron said: “It’s absolutely wonderful news that we’ve won our campaign to keep a GP surgery in Coniston.
“Coniston's full-time population is beginning to increase again so it would be a tragedy if - after 170 years of continuous provision of a GP service in the village – Coniston was to lose their GP on our watch
“It’s been a brilliant team effort and I want to thank local residents and the parish for all their hard work.
“It’s another victory for community campaigning.”
Mr Farron has repeatedly used his parliamentary profile and political heft to attempt to save the surgery.
For example, only last month, Mr Farron took to the Commons chamber to pressure Stephen Kinnock, the Minister of State for Care, to step in to help save Coniston GP surgery.
The former Liberal Democrat leader also wrote to Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, to raise the issue.
Now that a new provider has been found for the Lake District GP surgery, it calms nerves that patients would have to travel to Ulverston for medical needs instead of Coniston.
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