EAST Lancashire MPs today called on the government to do more to attract family doctors to the area after health Minister John Hutton admitted it has too few family doctors.

In a Commons written answer he confessed that the primary care trusts for Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale all had fewer GPs than they should.

He told Liberal Democrat health spokesman Evan Harris that the national average for GPs per 100,000 population was 55.55.

But he revealed Blackburn with Darwen had just 49.38 GPs per 100,000 population; Hyndburn and Ribble Valley 48.01; Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale 47.86. However nearby Chorley and South Ribble fared better at 53.47.

East Lancashire MPs Nigel Evans, Greg Pope and Peter Pike joined across party lines to urge Mr Hutton to do more to persuade family doctors to come to the area.

Ribble Valley Tory Mr Evans said: "These are very disturbing figures. We need more GPs in East Lancashire.

"The government must do more to attract people to come here as GPs. It is a lovely area where a doctor could buy a beautiful house while performing a valuable service to local people.''

Hyndburn MP Mr Pope said: "We need more GPs and the government is taking steps to recruit and train more of them.

"The government must now act to make sure that some of them come to East Lancashire. GPs on national pay scales would be able to afford a far better house than in the South East and have a far better quality of life."

Burnley MP Mr Pike said: "This is worrying.

"We have had problems but as the government's campaign to boost doctor numbers comes through, we should be able to solve them.

"The Department of Health and the PCTs must do more to stress the plus points of living and working in East Lancashire such as friendly people, beautiful countryside and low property prices.''

However, Mr Hutton said action was being taken to tackle the problem and said PCTs were being given more cash to spend.

He said there were also the following initiatives to to increase GP numbers in under-doctored areas:

A GP Golden Hello scheme pays £12,000 to GPs if they go to work in an under-doctored area.

£45million is being spent on improving GP training premises to increase capacity in under-doctored areas.

A further £195m is being spent on the Local Improvement Finance Trust to build modern patient centre premises to help attract and retain GPs in these under-doctored areas. This includes better health centres at Bacup and Nelson.

A spokesman for Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT said: "We're doing all we possibly can to increase GP numbers."

Director of Public Health for Blackburn PCT, Dr Jim Paris, said: "We are working hard on a number of fronts, both to attract GPs into the Blackburn with Darwen area and to retain GPs. This hard work is starting to pay . We are delighted that we have been able to recruit an additional 10 GPs in the last 12 months."