THE firm that organises the county's out-of-hours GP cover has set alarm bells ringing by revealing it is short of money.

Primary care trusts have been contacted by North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors to say it is facing 'financial challenges'.

The quality of service provided by the firm has already been questioned after the company was brought in to handle out-of-hours GP cover in October.

Some of the strongest criticism has come from patients and community leaders in the Yorkshire Dales, where it is claimed the new service has left some elderly patients fearing they could 'die alone in the night'.

Coun Yvonne Peacock will present a report today on the out-of-hours arrangements to colleagues at Richmondshire District Council.

She said: "We are not happy with the service we have at the moment. The report calls for additional expenditure to make improvements.

"If they are now saying there's a shortage of funds, this is an even more serious issue than we thought we already had."

The firm operates a call centre for patients to ring when their GP is off-duty and employs doctors to give advice over the phone, treat people at a surgery or make home visits.

Speaking on behalf of the primary care trusts involved, Penny Jones, chief executive of Craven, Harrogate and Rural District Primary Care Trust, said that the contract the trusts negotiated with the firm was based on many months of discussion.

She said: "Our aim was to provide continuity of service as well as high clinical standards from an established organisation."

She added that the trusts have only just been made aware of the firm's financial situation.

Ms Jones said the trusts were in talks with the firm and had agreed to provide a project team to work with managers.

She added: "This is an administrative issue and will not affect the service available to patients."

Dr Jamie MacLeod, chairman of the firm, said: "We are working together to continue a service which has been working well for many years.

"We would like to reassure patients that we are committed to ensuring a high quality local out-of-hours service continues to be available."