Merry Christmas.! There is a strong omicron agenda underpinning the next few weeks. I have tried to straddle stories pertinent to that and some stuff on a wider agenda including bikes and trees!!

In casebook this month it seems like the pandemic, which is raging through bits of Europe at the moment has some long-term negative legacy issues for rural communities. These underpin many of the stories in this edition of Casebook.

This edition of Casebook is coming off the virtual press with the winter closing in on us. We had no great summer to speak of and I can’t help feeling a sense of real pessimism heading into the future. This collection of stories previews winter pressures, point out the perils of planning for the wrong kind of pandemic and look at the fast breeder reactors of the current virus, care homes and schools. Roll on April…

In Casebook this month – public health food additives, levelling up, testing , jabs and some notable other stuff including funding opportunities and impact of social care reforms in rural areas

This month – ruminations on the backwash in relation to the health and care system as we begin to think about how we manage the opening-up process and its effect on rural settings. Problems created by distance from services for deep rural settings and much of interest about upcoming and insightful activities planned by the Centre in National Centre for Rural Health and Care Update. Read on!

In casebook this month – Health and Care at the moment has all the twist and turns of a James Joyce novel. These twists and turns are even more complicated through a rural lens. The stories in this edition largely suggest themselves. In the National Centre Update section at the end of this edition of Casebook I reflected, whilst writing, that we are very heavily engaged in pushing rural issues on many fronts – which is our job and I don’t mean to sound gratified or complacent but I think we are beginning to make some inroads. Read on!

In casebook this month – green social prescribing, patient records, mandatory covid jabs, health inequalities in rural places driven by covid and the impact of city flight on rural house prices and much more

In casebook this month – a significant focus on lock down and the impact of covid on mental health and an exciting foretaste of the launch of a new rural community of practice planned in partnership with the NHS Confed.

In casebook this month – A busy few weeks for National Centre as profiled in the Update below. We also have stories about mental health, financial prescribing, vaccines, mis-information and variants. Please read on!

March 2021 Edition In casebook this month, virus wars, the differential footprint of the virus, the links between poverty and health revisited through the lens of foodbanks, sleeping care workers