Amanda Hack

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) for giving us the opportunity to talk about how living in a rural area can impact our access to healthcare. As time is short, I will focus on two things. When I became an MP, one of the first things I was contacted about was the experience of getting a service on a Sunday. A resident of Ashby was given an appointment at an out-of-hours service in Leicester city. The taxi just one way cost about 40 quid. That is just one example of how the rural penalty is creating real problems in healthcare. I am glad to see the Minister in his place, because I want to focus specifically on pharmacy and that is his area of responsibility. I have met many of my local pharmacists over the time that I have been a Member of Parliament. Our community pharmacies are often our lifelines, yet access to them is not equal, and certainly not simple, for many of my constituents. North West Leicestershire is not just a semi-rural constituency, but a proud post-industrial one with a strong coalmining past. However, that means that we have our own unique health issues, particularly respiratory ones. For example, 8% of my constituents are living with asthma—higher than the average for the east midlands and the whole of England. Many residents rely on regular inhalers, medication reviews and preventive advice delivered via their local pharmacy, which is a vital service. If the local pharmacy is facing a shortage, or a rural pharmacy does not open as frequently, that can have detrimental impacts. In a city, people can pop along the road to the next nearest pharmacy. Castle Donington, which has the highest rate of asthma in my constituency, has just one pharmacy. It does an amazing job for my constituents, but the next nearest pharmacy is more than 5 miles away. With 62% of our bus services cut under the previous Government, it is not easy to just hop on the bus to the nearest town. The isolation of our pharmacies has a detrimental impact in a rural area, because there is simply nowhere else to go. When patients cannot access their medicines promptly, their conditions can worsen. They will turn to a GP for urgent appointments or to their nearest A&E. Pharmacy provision can provide us with an invaluable capacity for our entire healthcare system, the rural services of which have been hit the hardest.