Health hub provides support to lorry drivers across the country and beyond

Lorry drivers from across the country who pull up for the night just off the M5 J24 at
the Truckstop@J24 in North Petherton, are now getting important health and
wellbeing checks from a team of nurses from Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

Inspired by the successful rural health hubs that are regularly held at Somerset’s
farmers’ markets, the service has been extended to cover drivers who use the
Truckstop@J24.

The concept of the original farmers health hubs came from the family of the late
Derek Mead, who was a well-known farmer and businessman in Somerset.

And now, the NHS trust’s neighbourhood teams have joined forces with the farmers
market to introduce the hubs for lorry drivers.

Fay Braddick, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s district nurse team leader for North
Sedgemoor, is one of the nurses who runs the session, which is held between 5pm
and 8.30pm on the third Thursday of every month.

“We’ve been trialling this idea over the last couple of years, but now that our clinic is
running consistently every month, we are seeing increasing numbers of lorry drivers
coming to see us for health and wellbeing checks and support in a confidential
environment,” she said.

“At the clinic, we offer general blood pressure, cholesterol, weight and blood sugar
checks, as well as health promotion advice, such as losing weight and dieting, but
some of the drivers use it to just come in and check that everything’s OK, so they
know whether they need to escalate things to their GP.

“It does pick up a lot during some months, and in the time that I’ve been at the clinic,
I’ve made quite a few referrals at the request of the patients back to drivers’ GPs –
who are obviously scattered across the country.

“We’re tending to come across quite a few drivers with long term conditions, and
they’re able to use the clinic to get a bit of a general health and wellbeing check. We
are spotting things early for them, and hopefully we’re helping them to get a
diagnosis and treatment through their home GP.

“Lots of drivers come in to speak about their mental health, cholesterol, a few with
blood pressure issues, and others with musculoskeletal problems, which I can
assess as I’ve had training in this area.

“Some may have pulled muscles, which take a long time to heal, and it’s just making
sure we know when to escalate those problems to their GP.

“Most of the drivers we see will accept the full health and wellbeing assessment that
we offer, which is positive.

“It’s useful for their GP practice too as we can provide evidence that we’ve done a
basic check for them already, and we can put that in writing to their GP with their
consent, which helps to inform their care back home.

“If our service wasn’t available, I think it’s unlikely that the drivers would get things
checked out, and if they aren’t accessing their GP because of time and work
constraints, we can at least give them some level of support.”

Fay added that the health hub is becoming more established every month, with more
drivers either curious about what’s on offer, or those who are returning after a
positive experience.

“I’ve noticed a real change over the last few months with some of the drivers that are
coming in, as a lot of them are generally a little more health conscious,” she
continued.

“This is really positive and also means we don’t necessarily have to badger them that
much to come and see us – in fact, they actually proactively come over to us if they
see the signs up.

“On average we tend to see around five drivers in an evening, but that can be as
high as eight or nine on a busy day.

“We tend to base ourselves around the canteen area so we can catch drivers as they
come in, although with most of them we know to let them have something to eat first,
and then maybe ask them again after!

“We put leaflets out throughout the canteen and all areas that the truck drivers go to
and it’s working.

“Quite a few of the drivers that come in are nearing retirement, and we’ve had a few
looking for support to stop smoking. Others are making decisions themselves about
their health and just need that extra support, which we can help them with.

“We see people from all over the country, except Somerset of course, with Yorkshire,
Birmingham and Worcester sticking out in my mind. There has been an increase in
drivers from other countries coming in as well. Most of the people we see are men,
but we do see a few women drivers coming in now too.

“We generally get positive feedback from drivers and there’s a lot with the attitude of
‘use it or lose it’, which is good to hear.

“Many of them say there’s so many places they go up and down the country that
don’t offer this sort of service, and a lot of them tell us that they even try to work their
loads so that they can get to Junction 24 on the third Thursday of a month just to see
us!”

Fay said the lorry drivers’ health hub is one of the favourite parts of her role and she
enjoys the rapport that she builds up with the drivers.

“I really enjoy running the clinics, as it’s completely different to what I do in my
daytime nursing role,” she said.

“It’s nice to have the time to simply have a chat with the drivers, as that’s what a lot
of them actually need, so even if I’m checking their blood pressure, cholesterol check
and blood sugar levels, that conversation is really important, as they can be on their
own driving for a lot of the day, and even for a whole week.

“Quite often they’ll jokingly say that they don’t want to see me in case I ‘write them
off’, but I hit back laughingly with ‘what else are you going to do this evening?!’

It was Katherine Hawke, director of Junction 24, who first came up with the idea of
opening the health room to lorry drivers.

“I saw firsthand how the truck drivers kept the country going through Covid, but I felt
that these hard-working folk were not properly recognised and appreciated by the
wider community,” she said.

“It’s also noticeable that drivers often work in isolation and work long hours, so have
little or no time to practically go to the doctors or take part in health checks – this is
very similar to the farming industry, which we are very much part of.

“Fay does a magnificent job and full credit to the huge part that she plays. Alongside
are the wonderful team in The Canteen, who offer healthy homemade food options
and our lorry parking booking in clerks and on-site security colleague, who all like to
have a chat with all the visiting drivers to make them feel welcomed and appreciated.

“It doesn’t stop there; we are also planning to open a Men’s Talk Club to run
alongside the Truck Drivers Health Hub in the Derek Mead Health Room on the last
Thursday of the month.”