WITH local hospitals and maternity units under threat of closure, it does seem preposterous on the face of it that the health care trust should be even contemplating upping GPs salaries to £100,000 to work evenings and weekends.

It is no secret that the trust has to cut its enormous deficit of £10 million in the next three years, and health campaigners have been constantly told there simply isn't the money to pay for the existing services.

But from next year GPs can opt out of the responsibility of providing out of hours cover and this will then become the trust's responsibility.

Most can understand that GPs, facing an ever increasing burden of paperwork, ever longer patient lists, long hours and increasing stress, simply feel they cannot continue to give round the clock cover, and if a few younger doctors want to earn extra money, this is reasonable.

But the root problem is that not enough young doctors are coming through. They simply do not want to take on the excessive work or responsibilities of a GP.

Yet with an ever increasing number of elderly people across the area, including many who will be living in their own homes, the need for out of hours cover becomes ever more crucial.

The trust's answer is to offer a huge financial incentive which could cost £224,000 a year, a sum the trust can ill afford.

There are many that would say a salary increase of £40,000 to £100,000 in a rural area is outrageous, but those who have long valued the reassurance of a doctor on call round the clock, will have to accept it may be a price we shall have to pay.

And who would argue that if local authority fat cats can give themselves huge salary rises at the drop of a hat, surely a service that can often mean the difference between life and death is vital?

But the GP crisis is yet another blow to a cash-strapped health trust.

With ever higher expectations on the health service, there is going to be less and less money to go round.

We already fear for the future of our town hospitals.

Faced with this, the constant reassurance of the service offered by GPs is essential. We cannot allow this to be eroded.