New proposals aimed at driving forward improvements to health and social care provision in Wales's rural areas have been announced by Health Minister Edwina Hart, delivering on a key One Wales commitment. The plan, the first of its kind in Wales, outlines how the NHS can fully utilise the skills of staff and resources to deliver better care for patients in rural localities.

The plan includes:

•developing a new ‘rural practitioner' role - multi-skilled professionals who will cover services across NHS healthcare and social care - to serve rural communities;

•developing a network of pharmacies so that patients in rural areas can more easily access local pharmacy services;

•increasing the use of telehealth and telecare so that patients do not have to travel long distances for routine treatment and checks; and,

•establishing a rural health innovation fund to help fund improvements.
The plan looks at how a range of services including hospitals, GP practices, dental services, district and community nursing, occupational health, physiotherapy services and community mental health support can be delivered most effectively within rural communities.

Wales already has a strong network of community hospitals and the plan adds new purpose to those hospitals and exploits their potential to provide key services closer to rural communities.

The Health Minister also announced the establishment of an expert group to advise on the delivery of the plan.

How access to GPs in rural areas could be improved will be considered by the group and alternative models of patient transport for emergency and non-emergency needs in rural areas will be reviewed.

Edwina Hart said:

"The geography of Wales poses special challenges in providing effective healthcare for people in rural communities. This plan looks at how the health needs of these communities can be met in ways which reflect the conditions and characteristics of rural Wales."

"We aim to deliver as many services as possibly locally where they can be provided safely and effectively, but recognise that for some, especially highly specialised services, patients may need to travel. However, at the moment in rural areas, even for some more routine services, patients still have to travel.

"This fits in with the recent NHS reorganisation, which focuses on delivering more care closer to people's homes, more self-care to help people live independent lives and more joined-up services between health and social care systems.

"These are important times in the development of services for those living in rural areas across Wales and I look forward to seeing real improvements being made for local people."

Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones added:

"Making sure people in communities in Wales can access the whole spectrum of health and social care services is essential to the future of rural health in Wales.

"After a constructive debate on health services in Wales, the Rural Health plan identifies the requirements of an accessible rural health service, considering ideas that are outside traditional models of care where required."