Blog | Jessica's Rural Words

November 15 2018

How can we build a rural health and care workforce?

The NHS tuned 70 on 5 July 2018. This year has seen celebrations and appreciation of the vital role that the service plays. As the NHS ages the pressures and demands it faces are very different to those of 1948 – with the workforce under considerable strain to provide services. How can we plan, fund, […]

October 27 2018

How can we “think rural” in public procurement?

Public procurement is the process by which public organisations buy and rent services or functions rather than provide them internally. If the over-riding requirement is that all public procurement must be based on value-for-money and achieved through competition (unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary); how can we ensure procurement has a positive impact […]

September 24 2018

From quantity to quality – what does ‘good work’ look like in rural areas?

With the age of retirement going up, many people will spend 50+ years in employment. Government policy is seeking ‘to boost the number of jobs and create a flexible labour market…modernising employment law while protecting employee rights…to increase the number of people in employment.’ While the number of jobs available has increased, more recent attention […]

July 27 2018

How can we bridge the (rural) speech, language and communication divide?

On 4 July 2018 a Westminster Hall debate was held on Speech, Language and Communication Support for Children. In leading the debate, Rebecca Pow MP for Taunton Deane, described how “the most fundamental life skill for children is the ability to communicate, which has a direct impact on their ability to learn and develop friendships, […]

July 4 2018

Building a rural data visualisation community?

While many people are familiar with terms such as data collection, data storage and data analysis, there has often been a gap in how we extract information and present it in meaningful ways for different audiences. ‘Data visualisation’ is changing that, providing an integrated means of letting people explore data. We spend months, years, often […]