The Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative (SRMC) has agreed to continue its support for an initiative that will pave the way for the introduction of specialist training for advanced practitioners working in remote and rural areas.
The SRMC this month (February) agreed to continue as a funding partner in a project to develop a training pathway for healthcare practitioners interested in the new role.
The work is being carried out by the Remote and Rural Healthcare Educational Alliance (RHHEAL) in collaboration with the SRMC and NHS Education for Scotland (NES). The aim is to come up with an affordable, standardised education and training pathway for multi-disciplinary rural practitioners at advanced practice level.
The SMRC has agreed to continue as a funding partner to support the work and has contributed a further £14,152, allowing the project to continue into Phase 3, which is scheduled to be completed in March 2021.
Joint working between the RHHEAL and the SRMC to support the development of a rural advanced practitioner educational pathway was agreed in January 2019 and since then considerable progress has been made, not least in identifying existing relevant educational programmes and resources.
As we have previously reported, a joint RHHEAL/SRMC seminar was held in January to share remote, rural and island healthcare education policy and initiatives, both in this country and abroad, with key stakeholders. Further details of the seminar are available here.
Ultimately, it is hoped that providing remote and rural specific education and training will support the recruitment and retention of a suitably skilled, multi-disciplinary workforce for these areas.