Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the subsequent period of National Mourning, we have regretfully cancelled the Remote and Rural Festival of Learning due to take place on 19 to 30 September.  We are working with partners to reschedule.

The Remote and Rural Festival of Learning

Supporting the Development of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care

Formally known as the Centre of Excellence Remote and Rural Festival of Learning

NHS Education for Scotland’s (NES) Remote and Rural Healthcare Educational Alliance (RRHEAL) and Clinical Skills Managed Education Network (CSMEN) worked with the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI), NHS Highland, NHS 24, community leads and other key stakeholders from Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross (SLSWR) over the last three years to support with the development of a Scottish Centre of Excellence (SCoE) in Remote, Rural and Island Healthcare and Digital Innovation. The proposal for the SCoE was in accordance with the recommendations within the Independent External review of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross, Ritchie Report (2018) (1). The recommendation was for a centre of excellence that will bring enduring benefits not only for the people in SLSWR, but also for all remote and rural areas of Scotland and beyond.

A follow up report, Shaping the Future Together Report of the Remote and Rural General Practice Working Group, 2020 (2) added further recommendation that a National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care should be established to support not only general practice, primary care and clinical practice in Community Hospitals and Rural General Hospitals, but also the wider project of health and social care integration. It has now been agreed that the Centre of Excellence will be re-named The National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care.

The Centre should serve as a platform for inter-professional sharing that should promote and foster rural innovation both nationally and internationally. The National Centre will raise the profile of remote and rural practice as a career of choice and place the spotlight on Scotland for excellence in developing and delivering effective and innovative trans-agency models of remote, rural and island health and social care from a national and international perspective. It will design and deliver unique rural track education and training programmes making them accessible for the first time in Scotland and beyond to the existing and future health and social care workforce.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are leading the development and establishment of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care on behalf of the Scottish Government with a proposed launch date of spring 2023. The Remote and Rural Festival of Learning (FOL) will support with the development of the National Centre by bringing together health and social care professionals, as well as community members to deliver a diverse range of transdisciplinary and multiagency models of health and social care, practice, education, training, and digital innovation. The evaluation results from the FOL will help inform the development of the National Centre to develop, implement and promote models of best practice for the delivery of high quality health and social care in remote/rural/island areas across Scotland through education, training and knowledge sharing networks.

(1) https://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/News/PublicConsultation/Skye/Documents/1%20OOHs%202018/Out%20of%20Hours%20-%20Skye%20Expert%20View%20-%20Report%20May%202018%20.pdf

(2) https://www.gov.scot/publications/shaping-future-together-report-remote-rural-general-practice-working-group/documents/

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Watch the Video!

Please see video link here where Trish Gray, Interim Head of Programme, for the Remote and Rural Healthcare Education Alliance (RRHEAL) gives an overview of the Festival of Learning that is supporting the development of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care.

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