DURHAM City MP Gerry Steinberg has stepped up his efforts to retain local healthcare services for vulnerable village residents.

Patients in Kelloe and Quarrington Hill have been advised that Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust is not able to accommodate any more patients at the chiropody clinic in neighbouring Coxhoe.

Instead, services are to be provided by Easington Primary Care Trust at Hartlepool and City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust as their Thornley-based GP has been moved into their area. Mr Steinberg has urged the Durham trust to reconsider and pledged to protect the interests of patients affected.

He said: "It is completely unacceptable to force residents in Kelloe and Quarrington Hill, who live in the Durham trust area to travel outside of the locality, purely for the convenience of the healthcare providers.

"The situation is even more outrageous when patients living within walking distance of a clinic are denied access to it."

He said the trusts had conveniently forgotten that patients in Kelloe and Quarrington Hill had initially been forced out of their access to GP services in Thornley because the health services had removed them from the GP list in Coxhoe.

Roger Bolas, chief executive of the Easington trust, and Andrew Young, chief executive of the Chester-le-Street trust, said all patients had been contacted, with 45 people having potential problems.

Of those, 15 had genuine transport problems and would continue to use local services.