RUREO Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
RUREO Study: Rural and Urban patients’ Requirements and Experiences of Out-of-hours medical services. A questionnaire study in Grampian.
IRAS ID
263874
Contact name
Rosalind Adam
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 29 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Global research studies using large datasets have shown significant associations between rural residence and poorer cancer survival. In Grampian, an analysis of over 12,000 individuals who were diagnosed with cancer between 2007 and 2013 showed that rural dwellers were more likely to die in the first year after diagnosis than people living closer to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. This was despite the fact that rural-dwellers were no more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cancer and were actually diagnosed and treated more quickly. The reason why rural dwellers have poorer cancer survival is unclear, but differential access to key services has been postulated as one potential mechanism for worse rural cancer outcomes. \n\nIn this study we will investigate access to out-of-hours medical services by people who have been diagnosed with cancer within the past year. Using a questionnaire, we will ask people with cancer about visits to a pharmacy, contact with out-of-hours general practice (e.g. GMED), calls to specialist helplines (e.g. chemotherapy helpline), calls to NHS 24, use of emergency services such as 999 calls and direct visits to Accident and Emergency (A&E). We will describe out-of-hours medical service utilisation in patients with cancer, and compare and contrast responses from rural and urban dwellers. We will investigate satisfaction with out-of-hours medical care, and what could be improved.
Summary of Results
In this questionnaire study we investigated out of hours medical care use by urban and rural people with cancer in NHS Grampian. We sent the questionnaire to 2549 people and got 490 replies.
Around two thirds of our respondents lived in an urban location, and one third lived rurally.
We found that daytime medical services were used much more often than out of hours medical services. There were no significant differences between urban and rural dwellers in terms of patterns of service use, opinions about the services, or beliefs/attitudes about using the service.
Rural respondents were significantly more likely to report that services were further away and that where they lived made it difficult to access out of hours services than urban respondents. However, rural dwellers were no more likely to agree/disagree that distance to out of hours services would affect their decision to contact them when needed.
We identified other factors that were important to both urban and rural dwellers in deciding whether to contact out of hours services, such as the amount of pain experienced, and experiencing new or worrying symptoms.
Overall, urban and rural people with cancer have similar beliefs, attitudes, and experiences of using out of hours medical care and distance to medical services is unlikely to be the most important factor affecting decision to contact these services.REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0505
Date of REC Opinion
12 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion