More pharmacy services needed

in rural GP practices

An independent think tank has called for more pharmacy services to be available in rural GP practices to help reduce health inequalities.

Policy Exchange issued a new report at the beginning of October which stated that a fifth of England faces a “rural penalty” of lower NHS funding and less access to doctors.

The report highlighted how pharmacies were frequently being used in urban areas to help cover gaps in primary care, but that such an option was not always available in more rural communities.

It stated: “Expanding pharmacy services could relieve considerable pressure on general practice, but rural surgeries and their patients cannot benefit in the same way if there is no local pharmacy left to provide them.”

One example of where the gap was having a real impact was the recent rollout of the one-off meningitis B vaccine, which was introduced following a high-profile outbreak of the disease in Kent earlier this year.

The vaccine was primarily made available through community pharmacies, meaning people living in areas without adequate pharmacy provision were unable to get protected.

Young people, the report stated, should not be subject to “additional barriers” that could exacerbate the existing health inequalities they already experience because of their rural proximity.

Layla Moran MP, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, wrote in her foreword for the report that “no-one should face poorer access to healthcare or worse health outcomes simply because they live in a rural or coastal community.”

The full report can be seen online www.policyexchange.org.uk/publication/the-rural-penalty.