The Exmoor Rural Health Hub, one of three of its kind recently set up at livestock markets in Somerset, is now running bi-monthly physical health and mental well-being screening clinics in a purpose built ‘surgery' next to Exmoor Farmers' Livestock market at Wheddon Cross.
It replaces a temporary porta-cabin on the site which was no longer fit for purpose as demand increased.
One NHS nurse and one mental well-being practitioner will now staff clinics which will run for four hours twice a month, timed to coincide with alternating cattle and sheep sales.
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The Exmoor Rural Health Hub, registered as a charity in 2021, had to raise £110,000 to build new bespoke health rooms alongside the market building at Cutcombe.
The money came from two generous grants totalling £50,000 from private Trusts, a Somerset Community Foundation award of £5,000 and donations from local farming related businesses and private individuals. The amount was then matched by the Rural England Prosperity Fund
Farmers are already using the new facility but it will be officially opened on July 15, 2026.
Olivia Winterton DL, who helped set up the Rural Health Hub and is now secretary says: "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.
"Staffing our drop-ins with a regular team of NHS 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."
Jonathan Higman, chief executive of NHS Somerset, says: "The collaboration between the NHS and the Farming Health Hub exemplifies the strength of public and community partnerships in delivering meaningful and lasting healthcare improvement."
"The shift from treatment to prevention is a major part of the NHS 10-year Plan. Having a community nurse present at the health hub twice a month, also relieves the pressure on local GP surgeries."
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