Resilient healthcare in rural areas

The Policy Learning Platform of the Interreg Europe programme is pleased to invite you to a webinar focusing on resilient healthcare in rural areas on 5 June 2024. Healthcare in rural areas faces numerous challenges, including ageing populations, declining demographics, and shortages of healthcare professionals. These challenges impact the accessibility and sustainability of healthcare services, raising concerns among citizens and policymakers alike.

In response to these challenges, the EU Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas emphasizes the importance of maintaining and enhancing rural infrastructure and service provision, including access to healthcare. The OECD has provided concrete recommendations to address these issues, advocating for the reinforcement of primary and integrated care provision, incentives for multi-disciplinary health centres, and the expanded use of telemedicine.

To delve deeper into the implementation of these recommendations, our webinar will explore various aspects, including optimising synergies between health professionals, better home health services, leveraging e-health solutions, new recruitment strategies for healthcare establishments, and preventive healthcare in rural contexts.

We build upon the previous work of the Rural Pact Support Office, which organised a successful 'Good Practice Webinar' on enhancing access to health services in rural areas on 30th November 2023. The insights and experiences shared during that session have paved the way for further discussion and collaboration.

The objective of our upcoming webinar is to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between the Interreg Europe and Rural Pact Communities. By sharing experiences, best practices, and challenges, we aim to raise awareness and develop synergies that will contribute to the resilience of healthcare systems in rural areas.

We look forward to your participation and contribution to this important discussion. Together, we can work towards ensuring resilient and accessible healthcare for all, regardless of geographic location.

What you can expect

Keynote speech by Dr Veronika Rasic, General Practitioner, founder of the Rural Health Compass, Consultant for Rural Health Equity, with WHO Health Equity Unit,
and by Patricia Martínez Sáez, Rural Pact Support Office

• Presentation by Inés Fernández García, Project Officer at the Spanish autonomous community of Navarre, on the integrated Social and Health Care project.
• Presentation by Juliette Vas, European Project Officer at the French regional agency supporting healthy, active and autonomous ageing Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on Tel-e-dent, a solution for assisted tele-expertise to provide dental care to nursing home residents in rural areas developed by the Hospital of Guéret.

There will be ample time for questions and answers, and for open discussions on key challenges and opportunities in the field of rural healthcare. The organisers will also present services offered by the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform aimed at helping local and regional authorities address these issues.