A major conference for Devon's rural communities, entitled 'The Rural Health Conference', will be held at Bridestowe Village Hall on Wednesday October 22.
This is the Community Council of Devon's (CCD) annual conference and will focus on the health and social care needs of a changing rural community.
Dr Martin Stevens, of King's College, London, will be the keynote speaker. His recent research includes working with the Government's Commission for Rural Communities to look at how rural England is benefiting from increased NHS funding.
Peter Couchman, the chair of Plunkett, the leading rural charity for social enterprise, will talk about how communities can run their own local enterprises. And Dr Virginia Pearson, Devon's director of public health, will talk about the new arrangements for health and care.
Those attending the conference — many are from community groups, village halls and local councils —will be identifying what they see as the main challenges for rural communities. The evidence so far is that these are likely to include services for the very young and the elderly, and transport issues.
There will be presentations from Blackdown Support Group, whose 'care in the community' is a model many remote areas could emulate.
Contact CCD on 01392 383443 or email [email protected]">[email protected] for more details, or visit http://www.devonrcc.org.uk">www.devonrcc.org.uk