The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust Nurse Advice Clinic is a new resource which allows gamekeepers and their family members to speak or meet online with a trained nurse.
The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust was created in 1992 with the residual funds of the Gamekeepers Benevolent Fund, monies from British Association for Shooting and Conservation’s (BASC) Young Gamekeeper Fund, and a private donation. The Gamekeepers’ Benevolent Fund had been administered by the Gamekeepers Association, which merged with WAGBI in 1975. From 1975 it was managed as a stand alone body and was handed over to the Game Conservancy Trust (which is now the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, GWCT) in 1989 to administer.
The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust provides financial grants for gamekeepers, stalkers and ghillies and their families in time of hardship, as well as providing small grants for young people who are keen on making a career out of gamekeeping. A key part of the services offered by the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust is the helpline. This provides a confidential listening service with information and support on a wide variety of issues including retirement, redundancy, housing, employment, and health.
The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust is an independent organisation. Whilst it works with a range of partners across the sector there is no connection to any membership organisation. There is no requirement to be a member of any organisation for gamekeepers, ghillies and stalkers to receive support for them and their family.
The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust Nurse Advice Clinic
The Nurse Advice Clinic increases upon the range of health support currently offered by the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust, which currently ranges from resources to downloadable and bespoke information packs to free counselling.
Health provision faces different challenges in rural areas: GPs often have a wider area to cover than their urban counterparts, there may be a lack of out-of-hours care like walk-in centres, and if the rural area in question attracts visitors this can lead to an increase in the number of people seeking help at key times of the year.
Helen MJ Benson, Chief Executive Officer of the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust, says “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 [see NHS Digital General Practice Workforce Statistics]. 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 Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust Nurse Advice Clinic has had the go-ahead from the charity’s Trustees for a six-month pilot. If successful, it will become a permanent offer to gamekeepers, stalkers, ghillies and their families across the U.K.
The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust Nurse Advice Clinic was launched on Monday 21 November 2022 and will be available Mondays 9 – 11am and Wednesdays 6 – 8pm.
Call the GWT Health Line on 0300 011 0018 to book an appointment or click on the button below.
