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 our team of nurses.

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

Fay Braddick, our 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 says.

“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 adds 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 continues.

“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 says 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 says.

“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 says.

“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.”