Health chiefs say they are considering the options for a Lake District village facing the loss of its GP surgery after 170 years.
Coniston hit the national headlines this week after attempts to attract a new doctor to the area failed.
It was revealed that no applicants had come forward to take on the surgery.
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.
The surgery serves around 1,000 patients.
Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative took over the running of the practice temporarily while a long-term solution was explored by the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, which commissions health services.
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 board 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.”
Villagers launched a recruitment video last year to tempt someone to work in the village and a petition was set up, signed by over 1,000 people, was in support of keeping the surgery open.
Coniston Patient Group, which has been campaigning since 2014 to protect GP services, questioned the timing of the release for the contract, saying it was unlikely to attract applicants.
Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board said a final decision about the future of Coniston Medical Practice had not been made.
