THE ambulance service has stepped in to handle emergency evening and night-time calls to doctors in North Yorkshire.

The Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas) has been awarded the contract to handle out-of-hours GP calls in the county.

The contract was put out to tender after the private firm currently running the service, North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors (NYED), went into administration in December after running into financial difficulties.

The move secures the jobs of workers at NYED's York call-centre, who will work for the ambulance service from February 1.

Penny Jones, chief executive of Craven, Harrogate and Rural District Primary Care Trust, is the spokeswoman for the NHS project team responsible for reorganising out-of-hours cover.

She said: "This is an important step forward in securing and developing services.

"Tenyas has an excellent reputation dealing with front-line emergency services and their existing capabilities within the health service will enable them to deliver the highest quality of patient care.

"I am also pleased that the award of this tender secures the jobs of call-handling staff in York who have contributed so much to the service that patients receive."

Jayne Barnes, chief executive of Tenyas, said: "It gives us a real opportunity to build on the contribution the NYED call-centre has made to the local health economy and we look forward to working with the doctors in providing excellent patient care."

Tenyas provides a similar service in Hull and has also been awarded the contract to handle out-of-hours calls in East Riding.

Administrator David Horner said he was in discussion with primary care trusts to safeguard the future of NYED staff working at health centres.

Health bosses last week issued a statement reassuring patients that the out-of-hours services in North Yorkshire would continue as usual despite the upheavals.

The move followed claims that some North Yorkshire family doctors lacked confidence in the ability of the NHS to run the service.