RURAL Health Week 2007 (September 30-October 6) will highlight the specific challenges of hundreds of people in North Yorkshire and the North-East in accessing healthcare services and the negative impact this can have on people's health and wellbeing.

For people living in rural areas, access to specialist treatment often involves considerable time spent travelling to hospital. Kidney patients can spend up to four hours three times a week in hospital receiving their treatment.

There are ways to improve quality of life by offering patients the option of home treatment, whereby they undertake their treatment at home either independently or with assistance.

There are 41,776 people in the UK receiving renal replacement therapy, according to the most recent Renal Registry Report. But the registry also reveals that less than 25 per cent of dialysis patients receive treatment at home and the discrepancy widens depending on age and where you live.

Current health policy relating to the care of patients advocates delivering care closer to the patient's home. With current dialysis capacity issues and a focus on patient choice, shouldn't more patients be able to choose a homebased treatment?

Further information is available from the Dialysis Options campaign programme at www.dialysisoptions.org.

Samantha Addie, Dialysis Options, Otley, near Leeds.