Rural Access to Health and Care Services
Rural residents face distinct healthcare challenges, including limited access to transport, longer distances to medical facilities, an aging demographic, housing inadequacies, digital connectivity gaps, and recruitment hurdles for healthcare workers.
10 Nov 2026
An Appointment Is Only Useful If You Can Get There: CMO Report Puts Rural Access In Focus
A hospital appointment can mean a day’s round trip for someone living in rural England. If they cannot drive, or the appointment does not fit the bus timetable, accessing care...
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10 Nov 2026
£40 Million GP Programme Aims To Keep Vulnerable Patients Well This Winter
Extra support from GP teams could help vulnerable patients avoid hospital this winter, with important implications for rural communities where accessing care can involve long journeys. The government and NHS...
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10 Nov 2026
NHS Reforms: Keeping Local Needs In Focus
The NHS bodies that plan and fund local health services are cutting staff and reorganising. A new National Audit Office (NAO) report asks whether they will retain the expertise needed...
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06 Nov 2026
RSN Briefing: Chief Medical Officer’s Report On Rural Health
The Chief Medical Officer’s 2026 annual report examines health in rural areas and small towns, highlighting the challenges of ageing populations, hidden deprivation and access to care. Our briefing brings...
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04 Nov 2026
RSN Welcomes Chief Medical Officer’s Report On Rural Health
The Rural Services Network welcomes the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2026, which examines health in rural areas and small towns, and was pleased to have the opportunity to contribute....
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03 Nov 2026
Commissioning ‘Outside The Box’
Join Community Catalysts for a free, online, one-hour session on 26 November (1-2pm) to hear how their Community Micro-enterprise Development projects create new provider markets, with better outcomes at lower...
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03 Nov 2026
Rural Health Inequalities Hidden Behind Picture Of Affluence
Poor transport, financial pressures and difficulties accessing services are affecting health and wellbeing in rural Oxfordshire, a new report has found. The research challenges assumptions that rural prosperity benefits everyone,...
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29 Oct 2026
South West patient safety projects highly commended at national awards
Highlights South West neonatal oral antibiotic project and national medicines safety improvement programme both highly commended at 2026 HSJ Patient Safety Awards Both projects are supported by Health Innovation South...
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29 Oct 2026
Free PSA Tests for Prostate Cancer to Be Offered to Farmers
Free Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) tests will be made available to farmers at Bakewell Market and Shrewsbury Market in November. A PSA test is a simple blood test that can...
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29 Oct 2026
Patients’ experiences of social prescribing
Article 1 of 2 Social prescribing can make a significant difference to people’s health and wellbeing. The Patients Association‘s research, commissioned by the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP), found...
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