The Nurse on Tour Team was on hand at Cirencester Livestock Market offering health checks and information to the farming community.

The NHS Information Bus took the team to talk to farmers about mental and physical health concerns as part of a wider initiative to reach out to the county’s farming community.

Nurse on Tour is a Gloucestershire Primary Care Training Hub project which includes student nurses from the University of Gloucestershire.

Farmers came forward for a range of checks including height, weight and body mass index (BMI) as well as blood pressure, heart rate and screening for diabetes where there was a clinical need.

  • Over 16% of attendees were women
  • Over 83% of attendees were men
  • Over 41% of people seen had hypertension
  • 1 person was identified as having pre-diabetes
  • 1 person was identified as having diabetes

Farmer Jim Noad said he regularly factors in a health check now he knows the info bus is coming to the market.

“I come every few months or so for peace of mind,” he said.

“It’s very convenient for me to just drop-in without having to make an appointment, it suits my lifestyle”.

Nancy Selwyn, a 91-year-old drover from Bussage came on board the bus to have some checks.

She said: “I like to check in and see that I’m keeping fit and healthy.

All the farmers here know me because I remind them about their paperwork and it’s the same with health checks, you mustn’t put things off.”

Karis Ramsay, Clinical Learning and Development Lead for Primary Care at NHS Gloucestershire has been working hard to communicate the importance of a ‘stitch in time’ approach, or preventative healthcare to farmers.

“Highlighting the importance of preventative healthcare to the farming community can be tricky due to the time pressure they already face,” she explained.

“I have found that rephrasing ‘preventative healthcare’ into a language farmers can relate to has helped.

“I try and adapt the conversation and present it in terms of their livestock or crops and how well they look after them, for example sheep farmers dipping their sheep as a preventative measure against scab and fly strike.”

Rakhee Aggarwal, Executive Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Head of the University of Gloucestershire’s School of Health and Social Care, said the University was ‘incredibly proud’ that students were being given the chance to work alongside NHS colleagues and make a meaningful contribution to the health of the farming community in the process.

“Experiential learning like this is invaluable,” she said.

“It not only helps uncover undiagnosed conditions and improves health outcomes, it also deepens our students’ understanding of healthcare in real-world settings.

“By engaging directly with people, our students develop clinical confidence, communication skills and professional insight that simply can’t be gained in a classroom alone.

This type of hands-on experience is central to preparing the next generation of health professionals with the skills they need.

“We’re grateful to our NHS partners for providing such a supportive and inspiring learning environment for our students.”