Fielding better healthcare for North Yorkshire’s farmers

Farming is central to life across North Yorkshire. Yet the nature of farming work can make it difficult to access healthcare when it is needed.

Long hours, early mornings, seasonal pressures and the realities of running a farm mean that attending appointments or seeking support can be challenging. Many farmers also work in isolation and may delay asking for help until problems become more serious.

To better understand these challenges, Healthwatch North Yorkshire spoke with farmers, farming families and people working closely with the agricultural community. The findings were published in the report Ploughing through barriers, which explored the barriers farmers face when accessing healthcare and what could help make support easier to reach.

Since the report was published, organisations have started taking forward ideas and testing new approaches. These developments show how listening to local experiences can lead to practical change.

Bringing healthcare closer to the farming community

One of the clearest messages from farmers was that traditional ways of accessing care do not always fit around farming life. Travelling long distances or attending appointments during standard working hours can be difficult, especially during busy periods such as lambing, calving or harvest.

In response, healthcare teams have started taking support directly to places farmers already visit.

Central Dales Practice attended Hawes Auction Mart, offering blood pressure checks, advice on accessing healthcare and help with medical queries, including booking appointments where needed. The event also involved the Farming Community Network, Gamekeepers Welfare Trust, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust and a physiotherapist. The practice has said it plans to repeat this outreach work.

North Yorkshire Council’s Living Well team also trialled outreach at Selby Livestock Auction Mart alongside Selby Town Primary Care Network, engaging around 30 farmers and bringing health and wellbeing support directly to a place where farmers and rural workers already gather.

North Riding Primary Care Network, a group of GP practices, has established a dedicated Rural Health Team, which offered health checks to 55 people at Malton Livestock Market and plans to hold regular sessions there. The team offers basic health checks, advice and guidance without the need for an appointment. Its wider outreach in 2026 has also included a National Farmer's Union farm walk in Slingsby.

The Rural Health Team is open to anyone in the rural community, including farmers, farmhands, auctioneers and their families. As well as blood pressure and cholesterol checks, people can ask about issues including aches and pains, ongoing coughs, hearing, alcohol use, stopping smoking and possible signs and symptoms of cancer. The team can also signpost people to further support where needed.

The aim is to build a regular presence within rural communities and make support more visible and easier to access.

There are also early discussions about creating more permanent health spaces within agricultural settings. For example, plans for a future livestock market development in Malton include the possibility of a health hub on site.

Building on this work, Healthwatch North Yorkshire is also working with South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to explore placing nursing roles within auction marts. The Friarage Hospital has agreed in principle to host these roles, and discussions are underway to secure funding and sponsorship from organisations including the National Farmers Union, the Country Land and Business Association and agricultural feed companies.

Improving identification of farmers within healthcare records

Another practical step has been improving how people working in farming are identified within GP practice records.

Some GP practices and the wider groups they work in have started recording whether patients work in farming or come from farming families. This helps them better understand their local population and consider how support might need to adapt.

In some areas, practices have contacted patients directly to ask whether they work in agriculture so that this can be recorded.

This makes it easier to recognise potential barriers to attending appointments and consider more flexible options where needed.

Example of local action

Some GP practices have already adapted how they offer support in response to what farmers told us.

Central Dales Practice, which serves communities around Hawes and Aysgarth, offers flexible access for farmers. Farmers can call in or walk in, and if an appointment is not available, staff can speak to the GP or advanced nurse practitioner on duty about fitting them in. The practice also offers online consultations that can be submitted 24/7, as well as evening and weekend appointments through its enhanced access service.

The practice has also taken steps to reduce travel and time away from farms. This includes taking blood samples locally that might otherwise require a lengthy journey to hospital and offering free medication deliveries to dispensing patients. 

When referring a farmer to hospital care, the practice also identifies that they are a farmer in the referral so their circumstances can be taken into consideration.

Staff also work with local vets, who can encourage farmers to contact the practice if they need support and have contacted the practice directly when concerned about someone’s wellbeing.

Supporting healthcare staff to better understand farming life

The research also highlighted that healthcare professionals may not always be familiar with the realities of farming work.

To help address this, Healthwatch North Yorkshire has worked with the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) to deliver training sessions for GP practice staff across the county.

The training aims to increase understanding of farming life, the pressures farmers can face and the barriers that can make seeking healthcare difficult. It also promotes awareness of mental health support available to people in farming communities.

The sessions have highlighted the importance of understanding the farming calendar and recognising the impact that seasonal work can have on someone’s ability to attend appointments.

This work has also sparked interest in creating a wider rural GP network so practices can share learning and build on what is working.

Supporting rural professionals

Farmers often have regular contact with people such as vets, agricultural advisers and auction mart staff. These trusted relationships can play an important role in helping people access support.

Healthwatch North Yorkshire is working with RABI to train vets and other rural professionals to recognise signs of poor mental health and signpost people to appropriate support.

The aim is to help people who regularly interact with farmers recognise when someone may be struggling, feel more confident starting a conversation and know where they can direct them for further help.

Supporting mental health in farming communities

Mental health was a key theme raised through the research.

Farming can be rewarding, but it can also bring pressures including financial uncertainty, long hours and isolation.

Building on the findings of Ploughing through barriers, Healthwatch North Yorkshire is now running a project focused on supporting mental health in farming communities. This involves taking practical support and information into places farmers already go, such as markets and events, helping people access support earlier and in ways that feel more natural and approachable.

Influencing wider work across the countryside

The report has been shared widely across local and regional networks.

Healthwatch North Yorkshire has presented the work to a range of organisations including local care partnerships, NHS forums and rural health events. The findings have also informed North Yorkshire Council’s rural health needs assessment and wider discussions about health inequalities in rural communities.

The work has also attracted interest beyond North Yorkshire. A researcher from Newcastle University cited the findings in evidence submitted to a national rural health and wellbeing taskforce examining health challenges affecting rural communities.

The report has helped inform discussions with farming charities and organisations exploring new approaches to rural health support, including ideas such as mobile health services and community-based initiatives.

The findings have also been used by organisations working directly with farming communities. The Environment Agency has used the report to help inform mental health awareness training for inspectors who regularly visit farms and work closely with farming communities. Learning from the report has also been incorporated into training delivered by organisations supporting farmers, helping raise awareness of the barriers farming communities can face when accessing healthcare.

The work has also reached national decision makers. After one of our volunteers shared the Healthwatch report with their local Member of Parliament, Julian Smith MP raised a series of written questions in Parliament about improving healthcare access for farmers and rural communities. These questions focused on issues raised by farmers in North Yorkshire, including the need for more flexible GP appointments and the role of mobile health services in rural areas.

In addition, the Humber and North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance has used insights from the farming work to inform projects aimed at improving cancer awareness and screening in rural communities.

Following discussions through the Rural Health Cancer Project Group, the Cancer Alliance has agreed several actions to help improve access to healthcare and early diagnosis for rural communities.

These include developing tailored Cancer Champions training for agricultural organisations, delivered with the Farming Community Network, to help trusted members of the farming community recognise cancer symptoms, encourage earlier conversations and promote available support. If successful, the programme could also be expanded to agricultural businesses and community pharmacies.

The Cancer Alliance is also supporting plans to expand the health checks already taking place at livestock markets through North Riding Primary Care Network. Work is underway to explore additional funding to help bring health checks and advice to more rural communities in familiar settings.

Alongside this, the Alliance is strengthening work to improve digital inclusion by helping rural patients access and use the NHS App, while recognising that alternative methods of communication remain important where digital access or connectivity is limited.

National attention on farmers’ health

There has also been growing national attention on farmers’ health and wellbeing. Recent media coverage has highlighted the pressures facing farming communities and the importance of making support available in places farmers already visit, such as livestock markets.

Many of the experiences described in these reports echo the issues raised by farmers in North Yorkshire. Isolation, demanding working patterns and the difficulty of taking time away from the farm to seek help can all contribute to poorer health outcomes if support is not accessible.

By bringing services closer to farming communities and improving awareness of rural life within healthcare systems, organisations hope to make it easier for farmers to seek help earlier.

Continuing the conversation

Improving access to healthcare for farming communities will take time and ongoing work between health services, rural organisations and the farming community itself.

However, the developments that have already taken place show that listening to farmers’ experiences can lead to meaningful change.

From healthcare teams visiting auction marts to training for GP practice staff and rural professionals, and plans to bring more health services into rural locations, practical steps are beginning to make a difference.

As this work continues, the aim remains simple: ensuring that farmers across North Yorkshire can access the healthcare and support they need in ways that fit with the realities of farming life.