Rural-urban variations in service provision for elderly people

Findings reported from a survey of 997 people aged 75 years and over living at home in a rural and an urban area showed that the two areas were similar in overall levels of support and in levels of perceived need. The rural area enjoyed rather more generous support from district nurses and health visitors than the urban area, a finding which challenges the widely-held view that rural areas suffer from lower levels of support and have higher levels of felt need. The few differences between the areas that did emerge were not necessarily a consequence of location; other explanations may be found in the operating styles of the services, and in the amount and type of informal support to be found in the two areas. Overall, the findings question the validity of a simple rural-urban dichotomy in studies of elderly people.