THE firm which organises North Yorkshire's out-of-hours GP cover has prompted concerns by revealing it needs more funding.

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

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

Some of the strongest criticism came from patients and community leaders in the Yorkshire Dales, where it was said the new service had left some elderly patients fearing they could "die alone in the night".

On Tuesday, Councillor Yvonne Peacock will present a report on the out-of-hours arrangements to colleagues at Richmondshire District Council.

"We are not happy with the service we have at the moment," said Coun Peacock.

"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 trusts involved, Penny Jones, chief executive of Craven, Harrogate and Rural District Primary Care Trust, said: "The contract trusts negotiated with NYED was based on many months of discussion.

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

"Trusts have been liaising closely with NYED since the new arrangements got under way, but we have only just been made aware of NYED's financial situation."

She said the trusts were in talks with NYED and had agreed to provide a project team to work with managers.

"This is an administrative issue and will not affect the service available to patients," she said.

Dr Jamie MacLeod, chairman of NYED, 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."