North Of Scotland Expertise Goes East!

Word of our innovative Rural Track Program is spreading fast! We are currently playing host to a group of Japanese doctors and health administrators who are visiting us to see what lessons can be learned from the way the North of Scotland tackles the delivery of healthcare to remote and rural communities.

Our visitors are from the Japanese Association for Development of Community Medicine (JADECOM) and are visiting the Centre for Health Science in Inverness, Belford Hospital and the Fort William Health Centre.

The visit came about because one of the visitors, Prof. Suzuki of Gifu University had previously been to the Highlands and was impressed by the training given to staff by NHS Education for Scotland. JADECOM already had exchange links with the United States but were keen to explore the training in rural clinics and hospitals and the conversation quickly turned to the work being done in Scotland.

Our Director of Postgraduate GP Education, Dr Ronald MacVicar, helped organise the visit. “We have a wealth of talent and experience here, including the University of Aberdeen Medical School's rural-track programme, new rural-track training approaches for training General Practitioners, the Rural Fellowship programme for newly qualified GPs, the Scottish School of Rural Health and Wellbeing and the work of the Remote and Rural Healthcare Education Alliance. We’ve packed a lot into just three days. The group are meeting staff in rural general practices and rural general hospitals, which are vital components of the care we deliver to our remote and isolated communities, and also learn about our approaches to training medical staff for rural professional roles.”