Health Services and Social Services: Rural Areas
(asked on 31st January 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Government’s strategy is for meeting the challenges of rural vulnerability as defined by distance from health and social care services.
Public Health England (PHE) and the Local Government Association jointly published ‘Health and Wellbeing in Rural Areas’ in March 2017, which describes the inequality experienced by some rural communities; gives a steer for local authorities on issues to consider in meeting the needs of rural communities and provides examples of case studies of how local areas are addressing this. The report is available to view here:
https://www.local.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing-rural-areas
PHE’s National Cancer Registration Analysis Service is currentlyinvestigating whether there is any demonstrable difference in radiotherapy treatments associated with the time taken to travel to a specialist cancer centre. The results will be published in the spring of 2018 and will help decision makers in addressing issues of access to services.
On 31 March 2017 ‘Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View’ was published by NHS England. The document outlined a 10-point care and efficiency plan which will further contribute to improving the health outcomes of those living in rural areas, and is available to view here: