Britain is no country for sick old men who live in an idyllic Lake District village called Coniston

After having a succession of family doctors for 170 years, the village of Coniston, nestled in the Cumbrian Mountains, has lost its last doctor and has been unable to find a replacement. Its present population numbers 800 and despite inducements, like an advertising campaign stating that with seven pubs “we’ll never run out of beer”, alas, not a single permanent medic has come forward to fill the breach. 

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Furness has said it would be a “tragedy” to lose the village GP service for the first time since the 1850s. He went on to say : “Small surgeries like this just have to exist because they cover vast rural areas and an elderly population and we’re not tolerating it closing. Once you lose this you lose it for good, and it’s all part and parcel of the atrophying of rural communities. It’s a move that just leads to substantial Lake District villages becoming ghost towns.”

Coniston, with its surgery in Wraysdale House, is the latest victim of a chronic shortage of doctors nationwide in Britain after years of underinvestment and the demands of more and more old men and women with increasingly complex illness. Nearly one in three of the parish residents in Coniston are over 65, while about one in seven are disabled. 

At the moment they are not without a doctor but, following
the retirement of Dr. Frey and departure of Dr. Abbas in 2025, a 'caretaker team' was brought in to ensure the continuity of general medical services and although it is in place there is uncertainty regarding the long-term future of the surgery. If it closes, patients would have an hour round trip by car to the nearest full-time surgery in the market town of Ulverston and travelling by bus would take about two hours and include an almost half-hour walk. 

The Coniston Patient Group, which has fought for more than a decade to keep the surgery open has said : “We will not accept the loss of our GP service without a renewed and determined effort to find a provider. We have demonstrated overwhelming local support and a clear clinical need.” 

Videographers Jago Miller and Russell Howard enlisted the support of villagers to highlight the benefits of living in Coniston. “It’s been a real community effort,” Tracy Coward, Chair of Coniston Parish Council, told the information website, 'Cumbria Crack'. “We just wanted to get the word out that there is a fantastic opportunity to come to Coniston and work as a GP. We’re a friendly community and everyone pulled together to make the film.” Within 24 hours, 38,000 people had watched the film which has been shared on Facebook. A previous similar appeal to find a new headteacher worked and film-makers hope applicants will be tempted to apply. Tracy said : “I think you have to make your own luck and we’re hopeful the film will make a difference.” (link)