HYNDBURN and the Ribble Valley are facing a potential shortage of doctors because almost half the GPs are approaching retirement age.

Dr Leigh Griffin, chief executive of Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Care Trust, told Hyndburn councillors the issue needed to be addressed to ensure patients had access to medical care.

He said: "We have got a significant number of GPs approaching retirement and it's important we market Hyndburn and Ribble Valley to newly-trained GPs to ensure we can improve and maintain access."

Of the 59 GPs employed by the Trust, 34 per cent are aged 55 or over, and 14 per cent are 60 and over.

But Mike Maguire, the Trust's director of commissioning, said teaching status, awarded to East Lancashire's Trusts, and LIFT - local improvement finance trust, a joint venture between the Department of Health, the local health care community and the private sector - should go a long way to alleviating the problem.

"It's not a problem at the moment, it's a potential problem that's stacking up just because of the age of the GPs," he said. "It's something we have got to keep our eye on over the next five years so we can fill vacancies as they come up.

"There's a new type of contract, the personal medical services contract, that allows us to access national money not available in other ways.

"Under that initiative we are recruiting seven salaried GPs and three nurse practitioners who can do some of the work doctors can do.

"Our teaching status and the new LIFT development should make our area attractive for new GPs to come and work. We should be able to offer facilities and opportunities they wouldn't be able to get in other places. Over the next five years we have to make sure we make ourselves attractive."

The Trust has spent £97 million in its first 10 months. Most of the budget - £58 million - was spent on commissioning hospital services, with a further £14 million going on community health services, while GP services cost £2m. The biggest single expenditure was on drug prescription, with £17 million spent.

The Trust was formed last year, merging services previously run by several organisations including the East Lancashire Health Authority and Communicare NHS Trust.

"Where something can be done more efficiently locally we want to do that. Over time we expect to see a shift in expenditure from the hospital sector into primary community care," said Dr Griffin.