The Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative (SMRC) was delighted to have been given the opportunity to spread the word about its work to an annual conference held in the Centre for Health Science, Inverness.
The NHS Highland Research, Development and Innovation Conference 2019, held on 3rd October, showcased some of the latest developments in healthcare, many of which had a specific relevance to remote and rural areas. This year’s theme was ‘Space, Place, Face and Technology’.
The event gave the SMRC the opportunity to highlight several aspects of its work and is delighted that its three posters gave an ideal opportunity to showcase and demonstrate recruitment and retention projects.
SMRC programme manager Martine Scott: “This was a fascinating conference at which many of the topics today, touched on areas that are of particular significance to our work. At long last, some of the vital threads to achieve better rural healthcare are being enabled. What’s more, we found that many of the delegates were very interested to learn more about the collaborative and some of our pioneering initiatives.”
One of the SMRC posters at the conference featured the www.GPjobs.scot portal, a digital platform to support the recruitment and retention of general practitioners in rural Scotland. One focused on the SMRC’s recruitment yearly wheel, a web-based tool for recruitment and retention. The other poster highlighted the collaborative’s bureau pilot initiative, which seeks to test an all-encompassing service across health board areas to address current barriers to effective GP recruitment and retention.
Among the subjects covered in speeches at the conference were ‘Remote and Rural Highland – Health Issues and Future Questions’ and the NHS ‘Near Me’ service, which is introducing video consulting at scale in the most rural parts of Scotland.
