Research team
Dr Rosemary Hollick, Senior Clinical Lecturer Rheumatology, University of Aberdeen.
Prof. Ernest Choy, Clinical Professor, Cardiff University (NCPHWR).
Dr Mark Atkinson, Research Officer, Swansea University (NCPHWR).
People with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease need to have their conditions diagnosed and treated quickly after they first notice symptoms and the success of treatment and their long-term health depends very much on this. For those people who live in rural areas (up to third of the UK population), GP and hospital services are not always as easy to reach in rural areas as they are in towns and cities and people may well have delays in diagnosis and treatment because of this. The effect this has on people living with these conditions has never been looked at in detail.