Rurality, healthcare and crises: Investigating experiences, differences, and changes to medical care for people living in rural areas

Healthcare provision in rural areas is a global challenge, characterised by a dispersed patient population, difficulties in the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals and a physical distance from hospital care. This research brings together both public and doctor perspectives to explore the experience of healthcare across rural Scotland, against the backdrop of contemporary crises, including a global pandemic and extreme weather events. We draw on two studies on rural healthcare provision to understand how healthcare services have been experienced, changed and might move on after periods of short- and longer-term change caused by such crises. We highlight the importance of communicating service changes to aid in setting healthcare expectations and advocate a mixed approach to the introduction of digital solutions to best balance access to services in rural areas with the challenges of digital connectivity and literacy. •Crises such as COVID-19 and extreme storms threw into sharper relief existing challenges in the provision of rural healthcare.•We explore how such crises were experienced and affected how healthcare is provided in the short and longer term.•We call for a relational need for place, policy and practice to be considered in the delivery of rural healthcare.