BMA claims rural healthcare is being neglected

The British Medical Association (BMA) has claimed that rural healthcare is being neglected.

The report, 'Healthcare In A Rural Setting', says that many health policies created for urban areas are not suitable for rural ones.

The report focused on four key areas in rural healthcare: medical education and training; recruitment and retention of medical staff; accessibility and the impact of distance; and sustainability of services.

The main problems for rural dwellers in accessing healthcare was lack of public transport, the centralisation of health services and the remoteness of the area itself. The report also found some evidence to suggest that health outcomes for rural patients were poorer when compared with those living in urban areas. As a consequence of this, researchers found that the further cancer patients live from specialist treatment centres, the poorer the chance of survival.

The lack of public transport was also identified as a major problem for those living in the countryside. It meant that people in those areas had to rely mainly on private transport, meaning that those who could not drive, such as young people and the elderly, could face serious problems in accessing healthcare.

Rural areas make up four-fifths of the UK and around a quarter of the population live in these areas. The report also found that a higher proportion of older people live in rural areas, which means that local doctors generally have to deal with more cases of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and stroke.

Commenting on the report, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's Head of Ethics and Science said that the UK had to learn from countries such as Australia, the USA and Canada, which, she said, had "developed innovative solutions to the problems affecting rural healthcare".

Dr Nathanson also drew attention to the problem of deprivation and poverty in rural areas, which also caused problems for accessing proper healthcare. She said: "A major problem is the myth of the 'rural idyll'. Deprivation in rural communities has been ignored for a long time. There is a real case of the haves and have-nots. There are those with private transport who can access services, while those with lower incomes have limited access and choice."

The BMA report set out a number of recommendations aimed at improving the provision of rural healthcare. These include: the improvement of public transport; an expansion in the use of telemedicine; and giving medical students the opportunity to choose a rural placement.

(KMcA/SP)