Unleashing Rural Opportunities, published by the Government in June 2023, sets out a range of actions being taken across government in support of rural areas including work to improve access to transport, digital connectivity, and support for farmers’ mental health wellbeing through Defra’s Future Farming Resilience Fund. It is vital that everyone can access support for their mental health when needed, no matter where they live. Government recognises that those living in rural communities may experience different or additional challenges to accessing mental health support than those in urban areas. Work is already underway across government to address these challenges. As part of the third phase of the NHS response to Covid-19, NHSE, DHSC has asked ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICSs) to develop digitally enabled care pathways in ways which increase inclusion, including reviewing who is using new primary, outpatient, and mental health digitally enabled care pathways. Digital solutions in mental health enable remote multidisciplinary team functioning and information sharing to reduce administrative burden and to improve patient experience, including patients with specific needs. A prime example of these are virtual appointments, that are today used across a range of services and are proving particularly beneficial for users in areas where services are often far away from people’s homes and communities... Given the opportunities to access mental health services online, we also recognise the importance of ensuring that everyone has access to good quality broadband. This why the government is delivering the biggest broadband upgrade in UK history. Project Gigabit is the government’s flagship £5 billion programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband... DfT will look for opportunities to work with Defra, DHSC, and NHSE to maximise health outcomes for rural communities through the transport system.