A HEALTH hub for farmers and people in a rural Somerset community is expanding.

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

An NHS nurse and a mental wellbeing practitioner staff clinics that run for four hours, twice a month, coinciding with alternating cattle and sheep sales.

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

Planning permission for the build, to include three separate consulting rooms, has already been granted, with nearly half of the fundraising target already banked.

READ MORE: Health news from your Somerset Leveller

Later this month the hub, a registered charity, is planning to hold a charity Big Breakfast to boost funds.

The event will be held from 9am to noon on Sunday, September 28, at Moorland Hall, in Wheddon Cross.

Anyone interested in coming along is being encouraged to book a place through Iona.leckie@shearwell.co.uk.

Olivia Winterton DL, who helped set up the Rural Health 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 on-line 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 part of the NHS 10-year Plan, and having a community nurse the hub twice a month relieves pressure on local GP surgeries.

The Hub says its current premises are no longer fit for purpose, hence the plan to expand the services in a new building.

Mrs Winterton added: “Our ambition is to expand our services and bring additional health care 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 offering NHS Covid and flu clinics as well as a recent prostate PSA, thyroid and kidney function screening session.

For more information about the Exmoor Rural Health Hub charity, visit www.erhh.co.uk.