A rural remedy
THESE are testing times for the NHS. There are daily reports of patients waiting on trolleys at hospital A&E units. This is further compounded by the serious concerns that still surround the inefficient nature of the new 111 helpline for non-emergency patients, and which North Yorkshire MP Anne McIntosh sets out on the opposite page as she speaks about the circumstances which preceded the death of
her father, a much-respected GP.
Yet, while David Cameron has conceded that the National Health Service is facing a period of upheaval, Ministers do also have obligations to rural residents who are both taxpayers and local residents.
This is illustrated by the correspondence between Richmond MP William Hague and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in which the Foreign Secretary says: “I feel very strongly that rural health services are now under great pressure.”
They are words that the Department of Health needs to acknowledge before lives are put at risk – patients can only be expected to travel so far for basic treatment, or to see their GP.