Rural health care: a British success or a tale of unmet need?

Discussion over health needs and health care in the U.K. has mainly centered on the urban area. The countryside has not been included in this debate because it is assumed that rural people are healthier than their urban counterparts and that health and social services are more effective. This paper questions these two premises and shows higher than expected levels of illness in the rural area and the health services to be largely dependent on general practice which, like all rural services, is becoming increasingly centralised and inaccessible. What is needed, it is argued, is the construction of a case for more localised care. Not that this should necessarily lead to a singularly rural type of health service, rather that patterns of provision should be adapted to local needs wherever they are situated.