A Lake District village is facing the permanent loss of its GP surgery after it was revealed no applicants have come forward.
Coniston has had a doctors’ surgery for 170 years but Dr Katharina Frey and Dr Ahmed Abbas, who run Coniston Village Surgery at Wraysdale House, handed their contract back to the NHS from August 1 2025.
It was due to the retirement of Dr Frey and the practice said it was unable to recruit a new partner.
Villagers launched a recruitment video to tempt someone to work in the village – but no one has come forward. A petition was set up, signed by over 1,000 people, was in support of keeping the surgery open.
The Coniston Patient Group has been campaigning since 2014 to protect local GP services.
The group said: “This community has fought for over a decade to keep its surgery.
“We have demonstrated overwhelming local support and a clear clinical need.
“We will not accept the loss of our GP service without a renewed and determined effort to find a provider.
“Coniston deserves sustainable, local patient care – and we will fight on to secure it.”
The group said the Integrated Care Board, responsible for commissioning services, must urgently extend and widen the search for a replacement provider.
It called into question the board’s decision to release the contract on December 23, saying the timing was likely to attract interest from limited potential applicants.
It added: “Allowing the service to disappear would create a cliff edge in patient care for Coniston and the surrounding rural communities, many of whom face long and difficult journeys to alternative surgeries.”
The Coniston Patient Group said it was calling on the ICB to:
- extend the recruitment period
- actively seek new providers
- guarantee that a GP service is retained within the village
Peter Tinson, director of primary care at NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board said: “We have unfortunately received no bids for the contract to provide general medical services at Coniston Medical Practice which was live on the Find A Tender portal from December 23 2025 until February 4 2026.
“We allowed an additional two weeks over the standard 30 days for any interested parties to prepare their bid.
“The ICB will now consider options for how patients in the Coniston area can continue to receive services and a decision will be taken in due course.
“We will provide an update on this as soon as we are able.
“In the meantime, the practice will continue to run as it has under the management of the Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative.”
