Look into the use of travelling doctors?

The cost of travel to appointments for those living rurally out-with public transport services and without access to a vehicle, is prohibitive. In addition, with an ageing population, perhaps drop-in surgeries at village halls could be considered?

Home visits and village hall surgeries are the old traditional way of proving GP care and evidence shows it provides substandard care. It is beneficial for older isolated folk to be able to get out of the house. Our rule in my practice in the rural Western Isles was that if they were fit enough to go to the hairdresser, they were able to come into the surgery for appointments. The underlying issue being expressed here is the difficulties with transport, cost of fuel etc and affects all parts of health eg dentistry, social contact, mental and spiritual health. rather than travelling doctors, a much better solution is to address the transport issues eg dial-a-bus or paying for volunteer drivers within the community

Excellent idea. I used to work in Brighton and there was always a ‘roving GP’ that we could ask to visit patients at home if we felt they needed a visit before our visiting times, or if we didn’t have capacity to visit. Worked well in Brighton as population density is high there. Might more more tricky in rural areas and involve lots more driving:seeing patients ratio! But still feel it’s a great idea