Community-orientated medicine is a topical area for debate in the current discussions about medical education, but it can be argued that medical education has always been in the community because medical practice is located therein. It is widely accepted that community settings provide a wealth of learning opportunities for students and trainees and can help address some of the problems being experienced in the hospital settings in relation to the expansion of the sector. This paper seeks to offer a personal viewpoint on community and community-oriented medical education and then considers different models of community medical education and the resource implications for such approaches.