A NORTH Yorkshire MP said local people will feel "badly betrayed" after it was revealed that a new health group for the region will be run from Nottingham.

Ryedale MP John Greenway has expressed his astonishment after discovering that the new local network provider for Selby, York and Harrogate was based in Nottinghamshire.

The Carers Foundation won a bidding competition to provide the service, which will supercede community health councils in December, beating off a number of groups, including York Council for Voluntary Services. Local network providers have been established by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, and are said to "play a vital role in helping to shape the future of health provision throughout England".

The providers will be at the helm of a framework of smaller forums and will give administrative and development support allowing the forums to play an active role in health-related decision-making.

The Carers Foundation is looking after dozens of health services and trusts across the country, including Selby and York Primary Care Trust, York Health Services NHS Trust and Harrogate Health Care NHS Trust.

But Mr Greenway said he failed to see how a body based 100 miles away from York could provide local people with the dedicated service they needed.

Julia Tabreham, chief executive of The Carers Foundation, said the services would be locally based with offices directly in individual areas. But Mr Greenway also attacked the bidding process and claimed the costings which The Carers Foundation had been able to secure the service were not realistic.

He said: "I think the whole principle of local network providers has been shot to pieces. We were promised local services which we were told were better than what we had.

"They say if it isn't broke, don't fix it. This isn't a fix, this is a break of something that was working well. Local people will feel badly betrayed. They bid a third of the price of the York CVS. What are we going to get for a third of the price?"

Colin Stroud, chief executive of York CVS, said his group was disappointed it had not been successful, but they had been told by the Commission to cut their original bid by two thirds - something they felt they couldn't do.

"We thought it would be relatively small voluntary groups that would be bidding. We felt the terms of the bidding process were varied," he said.

"It was like stabbing in the dark. They gave us no indication of what kind of bid would be acceptable. I don't think this service can be run for £25,000 per trust and I have grave doubts that an organisation based in Nottingham is able to provide the sort of local service I think people need."

Updated: 10:49 Monday, September 08, 2003