People living in rural areas of Suffolk are not receiving an equitable health service because they are denied access to community pharmacies.
So says the 2000 report of Suffolk health authority's director of public health (Dr Brian Keble).
The chapter of the report on pharmaceutical care, written by Mr David Evans (pharmaceutical adviser, Suffolk health authority), suggests that a lack of pharmacies in rural areas is compounded by problems over the accessibility of general medical practitioner services, which can be based in towns with wide practice areas.
He says that this means that patients do not have easy access to health services for minor ailments and stock up on over-the-counter medicines whenever they visit towns, so as to ensure that they have something available for use when necessary.
"Patients thus self-diagnose and treat whenever they have a minor illness, rather than visit a pharmacy or GP," the report says. "One of the consequences of this is that patients will delay seeking advice about such problems for longer than those in urban areas, who have easy access to both pharmacists and GPs, thus delaying the recognition of any illness which requires a higher level of intervention."
The chapter calls for steps to be taken to address the inequity.
It adds: "Care should be taken when making service level decisions to ensure that services are not forced to close in the more rural areas, as this will increase the inequity."