Recruit and Retain Recruitment and Retention of Health Care Providers in Remote Rural Areas Recruitment and Retention of Health Care Providers and Public Service Sector Workers in Remote Rural Areas

Objective Recruit and Retain is a project which sets out to find solutions to the persistent problem of difficulties in recruiting and retaining high quality front line health care providers for the remote rural areas of Northern Europe Recruit and Retain is a project which sets out to find solutions to the persistent problem of difficulties in recruiting and retaining high quality people to work in the public sector in the remote rural areas of Northern Europe

Partners NHS Western Isles Stornoway, Scotland Nuuk, Greenland Agency for Health Protection Nuuk, Greenland FSA Akureyri Hospital Akureyri, Iceland Helse Finnmark Health Trust Finnmark, Norway County of Västerbotten Umeå, Sweden

Partners NHS Western Isles Stornoway, Scotland Agency for Health Protection Nuuk, Greenland FSA Akureyri Hospital Akureyri, Iceland Helse Finnmark Health Trust Finnmark, Norway County of Västerbotten Umeå, Sweden University of Aberdeen, Centre for Rural Health Inverness, Scotland Northern Ontario School of Medicine Sudbury, Canada Cooperation and Working Together (CAWT) Ireland and Northern Ireland

Finance Main Project Total Project Budget € 1,752,691 ERDF Intervention Rate for EU Members 40:60 Strategic Project Total Project Budget € 2,997,271 ERDF Intervention Rate for EU Members 25:75

To Pursue its Objective Recruit and Retain will obtain information on: why health care workers are reluctant to consider working in a remote rural area why health care workers are pleased to be working in a remote rural area what health care workers require to start working in a remote rural area what health care workers require to continue working in a remote rural area why health care workers leave a position in a remote rural area

Products and Services advertise and promote the opportunities for health care workers in remote rural areas and emphasise positive aspects of working in this challenging environment develop ways to reduce professional isolation by traditional and innovative methods include a holistic perspective which incorporates “buddying” for new recruits and long term professional mentoring for established employees generate urban rural partnerships, links with universities, professional training bodies and service providers to underpin the remote rural health care service find ways to support spouses, social networks, housing, child care and schooling encourage the development of systems which enable local remote rural populations and local authorities to support their health care service workers

Outcomes The products and services described will be developed, tested, validated and implemented with health care workers, areas of applicability to the public service sector will be identified by the Strategic Management Group. Business plans for private/public organisations to deliver a service package for the recruitment and retention of health care workers and public service sector workers will be developed.

Methods of Working Work Packages Administration – NHS Western Isles Questionnaire and Data analysis – Iceland Professional solutions Sweden Highland Social, domestic and environmental solutions Greenland Ireland a) Business plan (health care) – Scotland b) Business plan (public service sector) – Strategic Management Group + NHS Western Isles

Methods of Working Workshops Mini workshop Strategic Management Group Scotland Autumn 2013 Iceland Spring 2012 Greenland Autumn 2012 Norway Spring 2013 Sweden Autumn 2013 Mini workshop Canada January 2014 Strategic Management Group Videoconferences e-mail contact

Strategic Management Group Partner Person E-mail 1 NHS Western Isles, Scotland Andrew Sim andrew.sim@nhs.net 2 Agency for Health and Prevention, Greenland 3 FSA Akureyri Hospital, Iceland Jon Helgi Bjornsson jonhelgi@heilthing.is 4 Helse Finnmark Health Trust, Norway Andreas Hellesø andreas.helleso@ffk.no 5 County Council of Vasterbotten, Sweden Roland Gustafsson roland.gustafsson@storuman.se 6 Centre for Rural Health, Inverness, Scotland David Heaney d.heaney@abdn.ac.uk 7 Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Canada Roger Strasser strasser@nosm.ca 8 Cooperation & Working Together, Ireland Linda Saunderson linda.saunderson@westerntrust.hscni.net

Strategic Management Group Strategic Management Group Representatives Will meet at least twice a year at workshops Strategic Management Coordinator Reports to Recruit and Retain Steering Committee Strategic Management Remit Monitor the core work of Recruit and Retain Indentify areas of synergy Take products and services to the public service for evaluation and piloting Produce a business plan for public service sector workers

Final Conference The Way Forward for Recruiting and Retaining Health Care Workers in Remote Rural Areas Sweden Autumn 2013 Solutions to the Problems of Public Service Worker Recruitment and Retention in Remote Rural Areas Venue to be decided Spring 2014