Many thanks for taking the time to submit this review, in doing so we as an organisation have the ability to reflect on the service we provide in the rural areas we service.With regard to male care staff, we include with in the care planning assesment that customers will always be given the opportunity/choice to select the gender of staff they prefer to provide care, however when there are very isolated instances of sickness and absence, there may be occassions where on certain appointments male staff are the option available.With regard to rates charged working within rural areas, there are overheads that we absorb into the business, on a whole such as increased paid travel time for staff and additional fuel costs. Unfortunately these costs are prevalent and we have never charged additional mileage costs, travel time as a separate charge or place a stipulation on a minimum amount of care delivery time, other than below a 30 minute care call.