Government ministers have pledged to maintain the financial aid scheme that supports rural pharmacies until at least the end of this year.

A new report Delivering for rural England highlights that almost half (46 per cent) of the 1,230 rural pharmacies in England qualify for support from a £20 million Pharmacy Access Scheme. This financially supports pharmacies to stay open.

The report outlines the health challenges facing rural areas, namely, that

• the rural population is older than the urban population and its average age is increasing faster with implications for health and social care needs
• the average minimum travel time to a hospital is approximately one hour in rural areas, compared with approximately half an hour in urban areas
• delivering community-based care can be more expensive in more sparsely populated rural areas
• recruitment of healthcare professionals is more difficult.

The report also highlights that the targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme funds a £20,000 salary supplement to attract trainee GPs to work in hard-to-fill areas, such as rural communities.

In total, 9.6 million people (17 per cent of England’s population) live in rural areas. The rural economy is worth £260 billion to the economy (15 per cent of England’s output).

Further statistics show that 19 per cent of rural households do not have a GP within 30 minutes by public transport or walk and that 76 per cent of rural households do not have a hospital within 45 minutes by public transport or walking.