Rural and Urban patients' Requirements and Experiences of Out-of-hours medical care after cancer (RUREO): a questionnaire study.

Objective: To investigate how individuals diagnosed with cancer use out-of-hours (OOH) medical services, describe the behavioural determinants of OOH service use and explore whether there are differences between urban and rural dwellers.

Design And Setting: A cross-sectional questionnaire study conducted in Northeast Scotland.

Participants: The questionnaire was sent to 2549 individuals diagnosed with cancer in the preceding 12 months identified through the National Health Service Grampian Cancer Care Pathway database.

Impact of geography on Scottish cancer diagnoses in primary care: Results from a national cancer diagnosis audit.

Background: A recent meta-analysis of global research found cancer patients living in rural locations are 5% less likely to survive than their urban counterparts, a survival disadvantage that has never been satisfactorily explained.

Aims: [1] To describe and compare primary-care involvement in the diagnosis of cancer between rural and urban patients in Scotland. [2] To compare the length of key diagnostic pathway intervals between rural and urban cancer patients in Scotland.

Influences of rurality on action to diagnose cancer by primary care practitioners - Results from a Europe-wide survey in 20 countries.

Background: Rural-dwellers have poorer cancer outcomes than urban counterparts, for reasons which are unclear. At healthcare institution level, poorer access to investigations and different clinical decision-making by rural primary healthcare practitioners (PCPs) could be important.

Aim: To compare access to investigations, attitudes to cancer diagnosis and clinical decision-making between rural and urban PCPs.

Impact of rurality on processes and outcomes in melanoma care: results from a whole-Scotland melanoma cohort in primary and secondary care.

Background: Those living in rural areas have poorer cancer outcomes, but current evidence on how rurality impacts melanoma care and survival is contradictory.

Aim: To investigate the impact of rurality on setting of melanoma excision and mortality in a whole-nation cohort.

Design And Setting: Analysis of linked routine healthcare data comprising every individual in Scotland diagnosed with melanoma, January 2005-December 2013, in primary and secondary care.