This chapter examines two myths affecting development of the health and care workforce in places like the rural north of Sweden. The first is that 'rural health' is primarily concerned with medical care, and the second is that the major challenge facing rural health and care systems is population ageing. We argue that a focus on ageing populations leads to a workforce that is poorly equipped to deal with the needs of youth, Indigenous people, migrants and others. Further, a workforce focused on medical care is limited in capacity to provide holistic and coordinated care for rural residents. We acknowledge that demanding a more knowledgeable and better prepared health and care workforce will increase the challenges of recruitment and retention, but this needs to be balanced against the benefits of having a 'socially accountable' workforce.