A PIONEERING rural health hub on Exmoor is planning to expand to make it even easier for farmers and the wider rural community to access healthcare.

Exmoor Rural Health Hub, one of only three of its kind set up at livestock markets in Somerset, already runs bi-monthly physical health and mental wellbeing screening clinics in a temporary building next to Exmoor Farmers’ Livestock Market, in Wheddon Cross.

AN NHS nurse and a mental wellbeing practitioner run four-hour clinics twice a month, timed to coincide with cattle and sheep sales.

Now, the health hub, a registered charity, is aiming to raise £110,000 to build new bespoke health rooms alongside the Cutcombe market building.

The hub’s current premises have been deemed to no longer be fit for purpose, hence the plan to expand services in a new building.

Planning permission has already been granted for the new build, which will include three separate consulting rooms.

Nearly half the money has been raised and later this month the hub will hold a charity ‘Big Breakfast’ to further boost funds.

The event is on Sunday, September 28, from 9 am to 12 noon in the nearby Moorland Hall, Wheddon Cross.

Anybody interested is being encouraged to book a place by emailing [email protected].

Providing free drop-in health screening and other relevant services in the ‘easy to access’ local livestock market, where farmers already have reason to attend, has been proven to significantly reduce barriers to farmers engaging with their own health and other needs.

Somerset Deputy Lord Lieutenant Olivia Winterton, who helped set up the hub and is now secretary, said: “GP surgeries are often distant from the more remote rural communities, appointments are hard to access, and are often at times unsuited to the farming timetable.

“Poor internet/mobile phone connectivity makes using online services difficult and unreliable.

“Many who live and work rurally experience social isolation, which also reduces the likelihood of seeking help.

“Staffing our drop-ins with a regular team of nurses, all with farming knowledge and backgrounds, who understand the challenges farmers face in their daily work, aims to reduce the reticence of this client group in coming forward to seek help.”

The shift from treatment to prevention is a major part of the NHS 10-year Plan, and having a community nurse in the hub twice a month also relieves pressure on local GP surgeries.

Mrs Winterton said: “Our ambition is to expand our services and bring additional healthcare practitioners to the hub, including a physiotherapist, occupational health worker, and potentially dental health screening, as access to NHS dental healthcare in this region is very limited.

“Having more than one consulting room will allow us to have two or more health practitioners on site on clinic dates, making it easier for clients to get multiple benefits from a single visit.”

The hub is already established as a recognised ‘gateway’ to the rural community on Exmoor, offering NHS Covid and flu clinics and a recent prostate-specific antigen (PSA), thyroid, and kidney function screening session.