ALMOST 200 concerned patients heard the threat of closure still hung over their village surgery.

A public meeting in Hawkshead Market Hall was told the Government had no intention of stopping changes to the distribution of funds which are vital for the future of some rural practices - but campaigners assured the community they would continue to fight.

South Lakes MP Tim Farron, who is backing the campaign, said surgeries in Hawkshead and Coniston were two of around 15 that were all in this same 'peculiar' position after the government changed the guidelines for the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee.

He said to solve the problem of sustainability for all of them it would cost in the region of £450,000.

"I think £30,000 would solve the problem each for Hawkshead and Coniston," said Mr Farron.

Hawkshead Medical Practice GP Kaye Ward said: "In the big scheme of the NHS it's a small amount of money."

Mrs Ward added that if their patients decamped to places like Ambleside, it would end up costing the NHS more per patient per head there than it would to keep Hawkshead open.

Mr Farron added he intended to hand a presentation bill to the House of Commons in order to try to set up a strategic small surgeries fund.

"The two things that stand out for me is that we should get proper funding for the visitors we see here and that we see a small surgeries pot of money, much like the Small Schools Fund," he added.

And if the surgery is forced to shut its doors, patients could be facing journeys to Ulverston and Ambleside - with little in the way of public transport - despite achieving the highest patient satisfaction rating out of all 8,000 English practices in an NHS England Survey 2013.

Satterthwaite residents Lynn Granville, 57, and her daughter Cheryl, 31, already face a four-mile journey to Hawskhead.

Mrs Granville said: "If the surgery closed and we had to go elsewhere we probably wouldn't use it.

"We've been coming for eight years and it's the continuity and when you need an appointment you can get one straight away."

And the owner of Hawkshead Pharmacy is facing the same threat of closure with the potential loss of the Essential Small Pharmacy fund.

Hawkshead Relish director Maria Whitehead said: "We've lost the bank, the petrol station and battled to save the post office so this is potentially the ringing of the death bell for the community."