A PUBLIC meeting to discuss out-of-hours medical cover in the Dales will be held tonight.

Richmondshire District Council was asked to review the GP out-of-hours service after upper Wensleydale was included in the North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors (NYED) system earlier this year.

The new service means patients ringing an emergency number are put through to a duty doctor, who may offer advice, make an appointment for the patient to attend the primary care centre at Catterick, or arrange a home visit.

Statistics for the first six months of the scheme will be presented at the meeting and representatives from NYED, the primary care trust, ambulance service and patient groups will answer questions and give their views.

Councillor Yvonne Peacock, chairwoman of the council's community and environment overview and scrutiny committee, said: "This is an important meeting and we welcome the public to attend.

"It will provide us with an excellent forum to evaluate the current out-of-hours care arrangements."

The meeting will be held in the Dales Country Museum, Hawes, starting at 6.30pm.