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Residents of isolated rural areas use 16% less hospital care than the French average, according to a study by the Association of Rural Mayors of France (AMRF) which presents several proposals to improve their medical care.
“At the same age and gender, location in the countryside becomes a determining factor in inequalities in access to hospital care and marks the transition from a geography of regional inequalities to a geography of urban/rural inequalities.“, according to the association.
She points to the “determining role of distance“in this least recourse,”with the distance from regional hospitals” Who “is particularly glaring“.
The study also notes that “residents of isolated rural areas consume 20% less hospital care and up to 30% fewer sessions (in-center dialysis and chemotherapy) and 12% fewer short hospital stays“than those in dense urban areas.
To put an end to these inequalities, the AMRF proposes in particular to “provide the means for health students (medical, paramedical and pharmacists) to do internships outside the place of initial training“or of”set up and develop coordinated care teams around the patient“, which could be favored by the “tele-expertise“.
Finally, the AMRF insists on the fact that facilitating the installation of health professionals is “fundamental” for their better distribution and recommends the creation of a “one-stop shop for support which centralizes, at the level of each department, the territorial needs, financial aid, administrative support and information relating to the professional’s family life.