The Covid-19 situation has resulted in the Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative (SRMC) putting all new project work on hold.
However, where possible the collaborative is continuing with some of its routine core work.
It was considered essential to suspend the collaborative’s new project work as it required input from clinicians whose services are needed to deal with the current situation.
And, with the additional demands now being placed on the NHS, some members of the SRMC’s programme team have been recalled back to their respective boards to assist with the community response. Their expertise will be put to good use helping to support services at this critical time.
Nevertheless, some of the SMRC’s work is continuing. For example, project manager David Priest has been busy working on a root-and-branch evaluation of the ‘Rediscover the Joy of General Practice’ project – work which has involved more than 30 hours of interviews with many of those who have been involved in the initiative. In addition, Dean Pearson, who has returned to SRMC work after a spell away, has been tasked with continuing the development of the GP recruitment website, gpjobs.scot as well as collaborative’s own website and its yearly wheel, a tool designed to assist anyone involved in GP recruitment.
While the first phase of ‘The Joy’ is being evaluated, work is continuing – if not exactly as originally planned – on the next phase, which seeks to recruit GPs to vulnerable practices throughout Scotland. Clearly, the recruitment event which had been organised for new ‘Joy’ candidates had to be postponed but some interviews are taking place remotely.
The SRMC will post updates on this site and will continue to respond to requests from general practices. The collaborative can be contacted via scottish.ruralmed@nhs.net and by Twitter @NHS_SRMC