Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust launches Nurse Advice Clinic

The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust (GWT) has launched a new resource for gamekeepers, stalkers, ghillies and their families to speak to or meet online with a trained nurse.

This addition increases the range of health support available from the rural charity, which already ranges from resources to download and bespoke information packs, to free counselling. 

The GWT says that health provision, like other areas of life, has different challenges in rural areas. GPs often have a wider area to cover than urban GPs, there may be a lack of out-of-hours care like walk-in centres available, and areas that attract visitors can mean an increase in the number of people seeking help at key times of the year. 

Helen Benson, the GWT’s chief executive officer, said: “We’re aware there are challenges in health provision. In some of the home nations there’s a growing population but a stagnation of growth in the number of GPs.

“Many of us will have experienced difficulty in accessing advice and appointments, and that’s without factoring in that some of us are very restricted in when we can make time available for personal appointments. Our new nurse advice clinic will provide people with an opportunity to talk to a healthcare professional on the phone or online, at a convenient time, from their own home.” 

The GWT nurse advice clinic had the go-ahead from the charity’s trustees for a six-month pilot. If successful, it will become part of the permanent offer supporting gamekeepers, stalkers, ghillies and their families across the UK. 

The GWT nurse advice clinic is available from 9am until 11am on Mondays and from 6pm until 8pm on Wednesdays. 

Click here or call the GWT Health Line on 0300 011 0018 for appointments.