Rural Accessibility of General Practitioners: the Case of Bruce and Grey Counties, ONTARIO, 1901–1981

Using data from censuses and medical directories and various measures of availability and accessibility, trends in patterns of access at the two-county and township level are considered against the backdrop of substantial changes in the spatial organization of rural areas and in systems of health care delivery. The results suggest that the negative impact of the decline in, and centralization of, general practitioner services available to the dispersed population of the region between 1901 and 1981 was only partly offset by increases in mobility. Individual rural localities fared differently, largely dependent on their location relative to the central place network.
A l'aide de donnkes provenant des recensements, des annuaires medicaux et de d'autres mesures de la disponibilite et de l'accessibilite, nous en venons h considerer, au niveau des deux comtts et des cantons, les types d'accts, tout en gardant en mtmoire les changements importants dans l'organisation spatiale des regions rurales et dans la dispensation des services de santt. Les resultats de notre etude impliquent que I'augmentation de la mobilite a tres peu compenst pour les effets negatifs decline et de la centralisation des services de medecine generale dispensts aux habitants eparpilles de la region entre 1901 et 1981. I1 est evident que le bien-Ctre de chacune des localids rurales a varie grandement et dependait de leur emplacement par rapport au rtseau central.