Dozens of people have taken to social media urging fellow locals to support 13CURE, after receiving information it was "finding [it] hard to sustain and provide services in Tamworth".

Mother and foster mother to five, Leeann Moran, said she had used the service for herself, her high-needs four-year-old and her elderly grandmother.

"We do really do need it - Tamworth is a big community now and we need the after-hours services to take pressure off the hospital, and keep sicknesses at home and not spread them," Ms Moran.

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"It is very valuable and the local people need to support it more, use it more - that's what it's there for."

The service provides bulk-billed GP visits from 6pm to 8am on weekdays, noon Saturday to 8am Monday, and public holidays.

As a medical deputising service, it is subject to regulations including that it does not operate in competition with business-hours general practices; or advertise directly to consumers.

Clients received a text message in recent days thanking them for using 13CURE, and explaining its future was in the balance "due to marketing restrictions and lack of local support".

When contacted by the NDL, business development manager Aamer Shahzad Gill said the service was "facing a lot of struggles in regional centres, particularly in Tamworth and Orange".

"We are desperately looking for a deputisation arrangement [with a general practice or medical centre] because otherwise, if it goes really unsustainable, we might have to close it down."

The Leader understands this arrangement would mean 13CURE operating after-hours on behalf of the practice or centre, which could promote the service to its patients, boosting its numbers and financial viability.

Ms Moran said the alternative for her home visits would have been taking all five children to the emergency department late at night.

"We would have had to sit at the hospital for, possibly, hours upon hours ... and there's a chance of catching something else there, too.

"And they're busy enough without having to deal with just a high temperature."

Emily Coward said she'd called the service late one night to see her husband Adam, who was suffering with tonsillitis.

"If the service wasn't here, we probably would have gone to emergency - but we didn't really want to because ... it wasn't overly urgent, but he was in a lot of pain."

Mrs Coward said the service was "definitely" needed, giving the example of a friend who had used 13CURE several times.

"She has a two-year-old with a compromised immune system, so he does get sick quite easily. This saves her the trip to the hospital in the middle of the night."

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