World’s leader in rural, socially accountable medical education comes to Lincoln

The distribution of healthcare professionals into rural areas is an issue in many parts of the country. So it was fitting that the city’s university recently played host to a lecture by Professor Roger Strasser on his widely appraised rural workforce research.

Professor Strasser is a leader in the global reform of health professional education and has become one of the world’s foremost authorities in rural, socially accountable medical education. His publication profile is extensive and he has also provided consultant advice to many international government and non-government organisations.

The lecture included reference to a number of strategies that organisations can employ to attract their workforce to rural areas. These included strategies and programmes that HEE is at the forefront of. Professor Strasser:

• directly referenced HEE’s programme to help tackle health inequalities in rural and coastal areas;
• spoke of the importance of, “access to digital online resources [as being] key to reaching out to rural communities.” Our knowledge and library services gives all NHS staff the right knowledge and evidence to achieve high-quality, safe healthcare and health improvement;
• highlighted the retaining of staff as important as recruitment, stating, “It’s important to recruit but also to ensure we keep the people we’ve got.” HEE’s RePAIR (Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention) project has enabled us gain an in-depth understanding of the factors impacting on healthcare student attrition and the retention of the newly qualified workforce in the early stages of their careers; and
• also said, “The first step to a facilitated rural career pathway is the promotion of health careers,” whereas our Health Careers website offers information of over 350 career choices in the NHS.