We want your views on rural health and care

The National Centre for Rural Health and Care, based in Lincolnshire, is inviting colleagues from all over the UK and beyond to contribute to a new Rural Health Workforce Toolkit.

Back in 2020, the NCRHC, in partnership with Rural England, produced a Rural-Proofing for Health Toolkit to support policymakers in identifying and meeting the unseen health and care needs of their rural and coastal communities. Such communities typically have a resident population with an older age profile and a high prevalence of complex health and care needs, exacerbated by isolation and sometimes a significant transient population of seasonal workers and holidaymakers. Rural health care providers struggle to recruit: health teams are smaller with fewer opportunities for skill development and high dependency on temporary staff. Unsurprisingly, rural health delivery is significantly more expensive per capita than urban provision: populations are small and dispersed, with no scope for economies of scale.

In their 2020 toolkit, the NCRHC considered six areas of practice – Main hospital services, primary and community health services, mental health services, public health and preventative services, social care services and workforce. The toolkit suggested questions that policymakers could ask themselves to ensure that plans and policies were rural-proofed correctly, and included examples of good practice from around the UK. Rural-proofing can help to optimise the outcomes achieved by strategies and plans, by designing out any unintended gaps in service provision. Furthermore, it demonstrates a commitment to act equitably, embed good practice, identify opportunities for innovation and make better use of available resources.
It has become increasingly apparent that, of these six areas, Workforce is the most critical, not only in the UK but around the world. Everyone is finding it challenging to recruit and retain staff in health and care, and rural communities are doubly disadvantaged. NHS England’s Long Term Workforce Plan, published in June 2023, is stark in its description of a future worst-case scenario of a shortage of 360,000 staff. But there is little reference to place in this plan, and almost none on the specific challenges facing rural communities.

In response, the NCRHC has decided to revisit its 2020 toolkit, focusing this time solely on the workforce challenge. It has launched a Call for Evidence to collect the views and experiences of anyone working in the field, and to promote examples of innovation and good practice. This is a global issue and there is innovative regional practice emerging in “grow your own” policies, rural placements for health professionals, and targeted rural training. By collating and sharing this collective experience, the NCRHC aims to produce a timely response to the workforce crisis which will be of practical value to rural health and care practitioners and providers.

Wherever you work – in the private, public or voluntary sectors, as a provider, practitioner or patient representative – your views will be valued. Please take a moment to read the Call for Evidence and complete the online survey. There is no need to answer all the questions, only those relevant to yourself. The survey is currently open-ended but early responses would be much appreciated, especially if you have an example of good practice you’d be happy to share in the Toolkit.
If you would like to know more about the NCRHC, or would like someone to talk with your team about rural-proofing, they would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact the Toolkit project manager, Anna Whelan, on [email protected].