Rurality, healthcare and crises: investigating experiences, differences, and changes to medical care for people living in rural areas

Andrew Maclaren; Louise Locock; Zoe Skea; Diane Skatun; Philip Wilson

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103217

Rurality, healthcare and crises: investigating experiences, differences, and changes to medical care for people living in rural areas

Andrew Maclaren, Louise Locock, Zoe Skea^* (Corresponding Author), Diane Skatun, Philip Wilson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Healthcare provision in rural areas is a global challenge, characterised by a dispersed patient population, difficulties in the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals and a physical distance from hospital care. This research brings together both public and doctor perspectives to explore the experience of healthcare across rural Scotland, against the backdrop of contemporary crises, including a global pandemic and extreme weather events. We draw on two studies on rural healthcare provision to understand how healthcare services have been experienced, changed and might move on after periods of short- and longer-term change caused by such crises. We highlight the importance of communicating service changes to aid in setting healthcare expectations and advocate a mixed approach to the introduction of digital solutions to best balance access to services in rural areas with the challenges of digital connectivity and literacy.

Original language	English
Article number	103217
Number of pages	9
Journal	Health & Place
Volume	87
Early online date	16 Mar 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103217
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 16 Mar 2024

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
This research was funded through grant 20/027 from NHS Grampian's Endowments and CSO project HIPS 19/37. This research would not have been possible without the time given by members of the public in Grampian, and doctors across Scotland to talk about their own experiences. The authors would like to thank their PPI partners and advisory panel for their help and input throughout the research to date, as well as Dr Rosemary Hollick, Professor Jennifer Cleland, Professor Peter Murchie, Professor Alan Denison & Professor Verity Watson. This paper benefitted from having parts presented at various conferences including the NHS Grampian R&D Conference where Andrew was awarded the Delegates' Prize. The authors would like to thank the comments of two anonymous reviewers and the editor in improving this manuscript prior to publication. Andrew Maclaren would like to thank Lily Maclaren for her support and keen eye in proofreading various versions of this work before submission. For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.

Data Availability Statement

Authors elect to not share data owing to sharing data potentially compromising privacy of human data, ethical standards or legal requirements. We have committed ethically to maintaining interviewee confidentiality.

Keywords

Crises
Rural
Healthcare
Public
Doctor

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

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This manuscript has been made open access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence under the terms of the University of Aberdeen Research Publications Policy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Accepted author manuscript, 392 KBLicence: CC BY

2022 NHS Grampian R&D Conference Delegates’ Prize Winner
Maclaren, Andrew (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Awards, Distinctions, Medals, and Prizes

Cite this

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abstract = "Healthcare provision in rural areas is a global challenge, characterised by a dispersed patient population, difficulties in the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals and a physical distance from hospital care. This research brings together both public and doctor perspectives to explore the experience of healthcare across rural Scotland, against the backdrop of contemporary crises, including a global pandemic and extreme weather events. We draw on two studies on rural healthcare provision to understand how healthcare services have been experienced, changed and might move on after periods of short- and longer-term change caused by such crises. We highlight the importance of communicating service changes to aid in setting healthcare expectations and advocate a mixed approach to the introduction of digital solutions to best balance access to services in rural areas with the challenges of digital connectivity and literacy.",

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Rurality, healthcare and crises: investigating experiences, differences, and changes to medical care for people living in rural areas

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Prizes

2022 NHS Grampian R&D Conference Delegates’ Prize Winner

Cite this