Report highlights rural public health inequalities

People in rural towns and villages are facing unique public health challenges, with community and voluntary groups central to tackling the problem, a report has said.

Published by Oxfordshire County Council, it said this was due to a range of issues, including poor transport connections, high living costs and a lack of local services.

The report said older people were generally worse affected, although areas like Faringdon have specific challenges facing children and young people.

Council inequalities champion Bethia Thomas said the study would inform "system partners" to better support rural communities.

The Rural Inequalities Scoping Report was carried out by Healthwatch Oxfordshire and Community First Oxfordshire, gathering a range of data and stories from more than 800 people in the county.

It is part of the council's Marmot Place scheme that studies the reasons behind health inequalities in the county.

In Oxfordshire, 40% of people live in rural areas and in Faringdon, the key inequalities were found to be focused on its younger population.

Challenges included childhood obesity, as well as the area having the the highest level of people aged between 15 and 24 years old being admitted to hospital in an emergency.

Levels of self harm were also above the rural average.

The study also highlighted the importance of community and voluntary groups and the work they do to fill the gaps in local public services.

In Faringdon, The Pump House Project provides a range of services, from a food bank and community coffee morning, to parkour sessions for children.

Sarah Stoves is the manager and said the organisation is feeling the pressure.

"We tackle social isolation and loneliness, youth obesity, youth sport, elderly sport," she said.

"We tackle food inequalities - that's grown from a table with some fresh food to clothes, shoes, curtains... anything that makes a home.

"Periodically we'll sit down and pat ourselves on the back and go 'we kept that going for another six months... this is good' but you're constantly struggling to find funding to do it."

The report is only the first step in the county council's commitment to address the inequalities.

Bethia Thomas, who lives in Faringdon, said: "Everybody thinks that rural Oxfordshire is a lovely place to be and everybody is affluent and everybody is happy. But the leafy fields hide a lot of inequalities.

"Up until recently it wasn't identified. Faringdon and other communities that have been shown now to have some quite significant inequalities, they were just being missed off the radar.

"I'm so glad that it's finally being recognised."