Resilient healthcare in rural areas: key learnings

Webinar

02 July 2024

By Platform

The Policy Learning Platform held a webinar on resilient healthcare in rural areas.

Besdies valuable presentations from policy makers and specialists on enhancing access to health services in rural areas, the webinar was also an opportunity to tap into good practices and findings from Interreg Europe projects.

Explore the recording, key learnings and presentations below.

Webinar agenda

Navigate the agenda below to the topic of your interest

The webinar has been designed and moderated by Erik Gløersen and Mart Veliste, Thematic Experts for a more Social Europe.

00:0 5:35 Presentation by Patricia Martinez, Rural Pact Support Office on Resilient healthcare provision in rural areas.

00:14:20 Keynote speech by Veronika Rasic, Ruralt Health Compass on Challenges and opportunities for Europe from practicioners' perspective.

00:26:30 Survey about participants hot topics regarding rural health in their regions and countries.

00:31:03 Q&A on demographic decline of the workforce in rural areas, what shall be the immediate measures to curb the trend in 5 to 10 years?

00:41:33 Presentation on Government of Navarra's programme for integrated social and healthcare, by Inés Fernandez

00:53:15 Q&A what were the main obstacles to shift the focus of the centre from an institutional one to a more patient-oriented?

00:57:00 Presentation on Tel-e-dent, a good practice and assisted tele-expertise for dental care, by Juliette Vas, CARES project officer, Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine

01:09:45 Q&A on the obstacles that emerged in the project implementation

01:11:10 Q&A on the challenges to further spread the practice and attract funding

01:12:20 Q&A on collaboration with startups, to make this tele-expertise solution even easier to use.

01:16:00 Q&A on the funding model of the Navarra programme

01:23:30 Q&A on the training required for nurses to use the tele-expertise equipment

01:26:10 Closing remarks and presentation of the Policy Learning Platform by Erik Gløersen and Mart Veliste

The webinar explored a range of solutions to address this issue, including optimising synergies between health professionals, better home health services, the use of e-health solutions, new recruitment strategies for health facilities, and preventive health care in rural contexts.

Patricia Martinez from the Rural Pact Support Office introduced the EU Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. This Vision is based on 10 shared goals for 2040, the 9th of which is to make rural areas “Lively places equipped with efficient, accessible and affordable public and private services, including […] health and care, including long-term care”.

The Rural Pact is a formal space and framework to boost cooperation between national, regional and local governments, civil society organisations, businesses, academics and citizens to act towards the shared goals of the rural vision. Its community of more than 2,400 members includes public authorities, civil society representatives, businesses, individuals, academics and research and innovation organisations.

The 'Good Practice Webinar' on enhancing access to health services held in November 2023, identified some priorities for better healthcare in rural areas, such as adapting curricula for health studies, more training opportunities in rural areas, greater involvement of health professionals in the design of innovative solutions such as telemedicine, regulatory changes needed to accommodate telemedicine, mobile health units and community-based practices.

In her keynote address, Dr Veronika Rasic, founder of the Rural Health Compass and Executive Member of the European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association EURIPA addressed rural health as a challenge and opportunity for Europe. She particularly pointed at four main issues.

Health workforce shortages are linked to an ageing health workforce combined with increasing demand for health services. Rural health workers are particularly vulnerable to overwork and burnouts because they tend to be more isolated. This challenge can be mitigated by building robust interdisciplinary teams whose activities are integrated into the communities they serve.
Rural health is poorly covered in most medical schools. Rural health professionals often have to deal with a wide range of issues as access to specialists can be more difficult. It is important to identify and expose medical students to positive role models in rural health.
Rural health infrastructure is not just about access to hospitals and health centres. Other factors such as water and sanitation, transport, community activities and social care can also contribute to improved health.
Rural proofing is about applying a rural lens to policy development, monitoring and evaluation. Cross-sectoral assessments of the impact of policies in rural areas could help improve the health and well-being of affected communities.

Ines Fernández García from the Navarra Agency for the Autonomy and Development of People presented the regional Integrated Social And Health Care Programme (PAISS). This is an organisational model to meet the needs of people with complex medical and social situations in a more effective and efficient way. It is based on the establishment of new types of operational teams based on the principles of person-centred care. Training has been organised to help health professionals adapt to these new approaches.

Juliette Vas from the Gérontopôle Nouvelle Aquitaine is a partner in the Interreg Europe CARES project on Remote Healthcare for Silver Europe. She presented the Tel-e-dent initiative, which facilitates dental check-ups for elderly people living in retirement homes in rural areas. The solution is an innovative use of medical cameras and protocols for taking oral cavity films. This is done by a specially trained nurse who then passes the films to a dentist.

This solution has helped to provide dental services to a large number of seniors with special needs in a cost-effective way. Practitioners have saved time and there has been no additional workload for nursing homes. Transport costs have been reduced. There are now plans to roll out the solution to a larger number of nursing homes. Research is also being conducted to see if it can be used to provide dental services to autistic patients living in institutions in rural areas.