A campaign has been launched to save a rural GP practice under threat from the loss of essential funding.

Slaidburn Country Practice, which serves a population of over 1,000 including Tosside, faces collapse when the Government’s Minimum Practice Income Guarantee is withdrawn.

It was set up to ensure small rural practices would not lose money in the shake- up of GP funding and new contracts back in 2004.

A steering group has been formed to lead the campaign following a packed meeting at Newton which heard from Dorothy Pearson, chairman of the Friends of Slaidburn Country Practice, that it was the “beating heart of the valley”.

The meeting was attended by parish and borough councillors, the Local Area Team of NHS England, the East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group and more than 300 patients.

Dr Karen Massey explained how the practice was funded and said the MPIG was equivalent to almost its entire profits.

And Donna Roberts of the Local Area Team of NHS England said that they were aware of the situation in Slaidburn and had raised the issue nationally.

A spokesman for the meeting said: “There was discussion which highlighted how important it was to have local health care in such a rural location. It was decided to campaign to get the Government to recognise rurality as an issue which requires additional funding.”

Patient and backer of the campaign Richard Schofield, of Tosside, said the heath centre was vital to the rural community.

“I’m a trustee with the Ribble Valley Crossroads organisation which provides respite care and we are well aware of the pressures involved in serving a big rural community.

“We may not have a lot of people per square mile so we must convince the Govern-ment to look at the community from a different perspective – not just on the size of the population,” he said.

The Government plans to start the phased removal of MPIG from next year.