Farming Today This Week - Care in the countryside

Can health and social care in rural areas ever be as good as the services available in big towns and cities? Some think that isolated communities, higher costs and an older population put rural dwellers at a disadvantage when it comes to GP provision, hospitals, social care, mental health support and public transport.
While the Government insists that local decisions determine where social care budgets are spent, increasingly volunteers, community groups and charity have helped keep some services going. In the Shropshire village of Prees, the community faced losing its family doctors' surgery when the resident GP retired and the building reverted to being a private home. Then a local businessman came forward to fund a new medical centre staffed by NHS doctors. Ray Grocott also used his pension pot to build eight bungalows for over-75s in need of new homes.
Presented by Sybil Ruscoe.
Produced by Vernon Harwood.