The study, which is co-led by Dr Rosemary Hollick, has been awarded £996,081 from the Scottish Government's Chief Scientist Office to fund a 5-year project that will examine healthcare inequalities in rural and island areas.
Healthcare inequalities exist between rural and island, and more populated areas in Scotland. The BRUCES study, co-led by Dr Rosemary Hollick, has been awarded £1 million from Chief Scientist Office to investigate poorer rural and island healthcare outcomes, with a particular on focus cancer, musculoskeletal conditions and frailty.
The multi-disciplinary study team combines lived experience with expertise from clinical medicine, health service research, health economics and human geography. This includes Michelle Stevenson, a member of our Patient Involvement and Engagement group, who lives in remote rural Scotland and has lived experience of chronic long-term health conditions
The project will look at important rural health inequalities, how they are caused, and effective ways to address them. Ultimately, it will support the delivery of existing policy and inform the design of future rural and island policy, promoting social justice and enhancing the wellbeing of all Scotland’s residents, regardless of where they live. Research will focus initially on three common health issues: cancer, musculoskeletal conditions and frailty, which will give insight into acute and longer-term conditions across different age groups and health conditions treated locally and in specialist centres.
Over the term of the project, the team will use interviews and data analysis to determine how people living in rural and island Scotland experience health services and identify when they are disadvantaged. Local, national and international policies that support care delivery in rural areas will also be examined to create guidance to support local and national service planning.
Dr Hollick said: “Musculoskeletal conditions affect around one third of the adult Scottish population. They are associated with pain, stiffness and fatigue and are amongst the most common reasons why people take time off work or even leave their jobs. These conditions are also the most common cause of disability in older adults, and this is particularly a problem in rural communities with increasingly older populations and where social isolation and lack of carers presents additional challenges.”
Michelle explained why she wanted to be involved in the study: “Addressing rural inequalities in health is very important to me, my family and my community.
“I have a chronic inflammatory arthritis for which I receive strong medication to suppress my immune system. As a result, I developed an infection in my hip which was very serious and resulted in an emergency admission to hospital over an hour from my home in the Highlands.
“I needed to continue strong intravenous antibiotics at home but because there were no local district nurses I had to travel 120-mile round trip 3 days a week to receive this.
“I’m now receiving intensive rehabilitation at the rheumatology unit in Dingwall which means being an inpatient for 3 weeks, away from my family and friends. This has brought home to me the real, complex challenges faced by people living in rural communities looking to access health and social care.”