Survey looks at women's mental health in farming
Ms Herniman, 52, of South Molton, works as a field insurance advisor and makes it her job to offer support when needed.She said: "You're invited into the farmhouse kitchen – people tell you about their worries, their fears, the challenges they are suffering."If I can prevent what happened to my mum from happening to someone else, I will. "If I can get them to open up, then I will. That's her legacy."She added that women were the backbone in farming, and she saw a huge amount of stress and burden put upon them.
In 2021, The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) surveyed 15,296 people from across England and Wales (76% male, 23% female)It found:36% of all respondents were classified as either possibly or probably depressed. For women, this figure was 43%.47% were experiencing anxiety to some degree (women 58%). 18% moderate or severe anxiety (women 23%).
Carly Titmus, 44 works for the young suicide prevention charity, Papyrus.She visits livestock markets in the South West of England to promote awareness.She said: "I have worked alongside women in our farming communities. "There is a lot of discussion around isolation and feeling like they are not fitting in and getting time off the farm to have that break away."
Three-year study
Researchers are seeking the views of women in farming to help improve the support provided for their health and wellbeing.The research is led by the University of Exeter and the Farming Community Network (FCN) charity.Leaders said it aimed to better understand the physical and mental health of women working in agriculture - including potential stressors in farming and barriers to seeking support.The survey is part of the three-year research project and team members said they were keen to hear from all women over the age of 18 who were either living and/or working on farms.Researchers said the results would be shared with relevant public health bodies and policy makers.Dr Rebecca Wheeler, from the University of Exeter, who is leading the project, said: "We want to hear about the experiences of women from across the UK – of all ages and backgrounds – and from different roles in agriculture."Linda Jones, national manager (FCN Cymru), said: "This is an important opportunity for women in farming to share their views and contribute to this new research. "There has historically been limited research conducted into the health and wellbeing of women in farming – including both the positive aspects, as well as any unique stressors or barriers that may be faced and potential implications for their life choices."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Girl, 14, died at psychiatric hospital after 'worker' with false ID left her alone - then fled the UK, inquest hears
A 14-year-old girl who should have been under constant supervision at a psychiatric hospital has died after a 'care worker', who used a fake ID to get the job, left her alone before fleeing to Ghana, an inquest has heard. Ruth Szymankiewicz, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, had an eating disorder and was a patient at Huntercombe Hospital's Thames ward, a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Maidenhead, since October 2021. She had been placed under strict one-to-one supervision following a self-harming incident 10 days before her death, a jury inquest held at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court heard on Monday. However, on February 12, 2022, the member of staff responsible for watching her - a man then known as Ebo Acheampong - failed to maintain the constant supervision plan, the court was told. He left Ruth unaccompanied for around 15 minutes and she was left to walk around the hospital and to her room, assistant coroner Ian Wade KC said. The teenager was found unconscious shortly after, having been left alone long enough to asphyxiate herself and sadly died at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford two days later. A post-mortem examination carried out by the Home Office later determined the preliminary cause of death to be 'hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy' - a type of brain damage due to lack of oxygen. It later emerged Acheampong had been using false identity documents and was hired by the hospital under a fake name, Mr Wade told the court. Speaking to jurors, the coroner said: 'The evidence showed he had been employed through an agency (Platinum), who checked his identity documents, and they even trained him by putting him through a day-and-a-half course. 'It appears that these particular processes were the norm and were sufficient to enable a hospital to employ this person. 'But on February 12, he did not keep Ruth under a constant watch. 'Some time around 8pm in the evening, this man ended his shift without knowing where she was and without making sure that he handed her over to another member of staff to continue the one-to-one care regime. 'He simply left.' Acheampong never returned to work at Huntercombe Hospital and instead fled the UK to Ghana, where it is thought he is originally from, jurors were told. 'It seems that he learned what happened that evening,' Mr Wade said. Thames Valley Police launched an investigation and found Acheampong had gone to Heathrow airport and got on a plane to Ghana 'never to be seen again', the coroner said. 'You will not hear from that man, and he let Ruth down,' Mr Wade told jurors. The court further heard Huntercombe Hospital had been inspected twice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) prior to the incident. 'The CQC had not reported favourably on Huntercombe,' the coroner told the inquest. Active Care Group, which owned Huntercombe at the time of Ruth's death, has since closed the facility. Paying tribute the Ruth, her parents Kate and Mark, a GP and surgeon respectively, said she loved animals and reading and had a 'fiery, determined' personality and a 'huge heart'. They said she 'was and still is deeply loved' and added her death has 'shattered' them. The jury was told Ruth had climbed Kilimanjaro aged just 11 and had once lived in Tanzania for a period of time with her parents and two sisters. Ruth was initially being cared for on the children's ward at Salisbury Hospital but was transferred to Southampton for further care after she was injured when a nasogastric tube fed contents into a lung instead of her stomach in September 2021. Her parents said they were told days later that Ruth would be moved to Huntercombe Hospital, which they found had a poor rating and was a two-hour drive away from their home. Her mother, Dr Szymankiewicz, said the process for why Ruth needed to be moved to the hospital and onto a PICU was 'opaque' and that the system was 'incredibly difficult to navigate'. In a statement, she said: 'We wish we had fought harder. We had no idea how awful it would be.' She said there was 'never any sense that staff thought it was important to communicate' with them about her daughter's care. Serious incidents, including Ruth drinking cleaning fluid and having black eyes, were not raised with them, Dr Szymankiewicz added. The inquest, at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court in Beaconsfield, is expected to last for about two weeks.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
I found it agonising to quit smoking. So why are people ignoring the new treatments on offer?
If there was a five-minute nuclear warning, I'd run straight to my local shop and buy a pack of cigarettes. Even now, after all these years. I stopped more than a decade ago – note that I say 'stopped' rather than 'gave up' because the latter implies a sacrifice, and I have been brainwashed (OK, hypnotised) not to use the term. But you are never really a non-smoker. You are just a smoker who is currently not smoking. In your soul, you are forever one of the people who leave the table after eating to go and have a conversation outside, even if you physically stay put these days. So, as someone who found it difficult to quit, it's baffling to hear that although two stop-smoking medications have been available in the UK since 2024, only 0.2% of those attempting to give up have used them, according to an analysis of NHS data on smoking in England. Cytisine (which also goes by cytisinicline) is a plant-based product that has been used in eastern Europe since the 70s and may appeal to those who prefer a natural option over a synthetic drug. It mimics the effects of nicotine, and tricks your brain into thinking you've had a cigarette. Varenicline – withdrawn in 2021 over concerns about impurities, but now reformulated and rereleased – can apparently reduce the urge to smoke, make you enjoy it less when you do and ease withdrawal symptoms. I tried everything when it came to my struggle with Silk Cut. Patches, gum, lozenges – I carried on smoking while I wore, chewed and sucked them all. I read the world-famous success story The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr (no, not that one). I attended the NHS in-person sessions, three times, to no effect. I was a triple failure, and oddly proud of it for a reason I still don't quite understand. I had neurolinguistic programming, where the man shook my hand as he greeted me, asking, 'And how long was it that you smoked for?' 'Oh, I still smoke now. I just had one outside,' I volunteered cheerfully. He tutted and told me that for some clients, talking about smoking in the past tense like that was all it took. I scoffed at those weaklings as I walked to my train afterwards – in a cloud of smoke, obviously. The closest I came to victory back then was a hypnotist recommended by a friend, with the caveat that he sounded so much like Cliff Richard it was hard to take him seriously. She didn't mention that he worked out of an extremely insalubrious portable cabin at the back of a building site. As I knocked on the tin-can door (while simultaneously putting out yet another last ever cigarette), I reasoned that if he murdered me, I would technically have given up smoking, therefore this would have been a success. Reader, he did not murder me. In gentle, dulcet tones, he told me I felt sleepy, while I felt embarrassed for him because I definitely wasn't hypnotised. When he 'brought me round' he asked me how long I thought I'd 'been under'. I'd been thinking about what to have for dinner the whole time, so stifled a giggle as I told him: about 10 minutes. He replied that it had been two hours. The next morning, it occurred to me that I hadn't even thought about smoking, let alone done it. Thrilled, I sent another friend, who had the same experience. However, a year later, almost to the day, we both started smoking again. I went back for a do-over but it didn't work. In the end, I probably spent about as much on trying to stop smoking as I had on cigarettes, and the thing that finally worked was free: boring old willpower. It was agony. Personally, I would have bitten the doctor's hand off if they could have given me a treatment that worked. And while of course no treatment is 100% effective, as I found out, stopping smoking is hard and gruelling. The more options people have, and the more visible and accessible these options are, the better. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
I've been left with a gigantic hernia the size of a football – docs said my symptoms were just a ‘bad back'
GRAHAM Shepherd has been left with a hernia the size of a football after doctors dismissed his symptoms as a "bad back". While the 65-year-old has been awarded a payout after suing the NHS, he's said his and his family's lives "will never be the same again". 5 5 5 Graham developed the gigantic bulge - described as the biggest doctors had ever seen - when it ballooned after an aneurysm ruptured. He had visited his GP multiple times and gone to hospital twice complaining of severe back pain as well as weight loss over a nine week period. Graham said a lump on his stomach was also pulsating - but doctors failed to carry out a full examination and sent him home with painkillers. The result of an MRI scan was incorrectly recorded as clear before he was eventually diagnosed with an 11.5cm abdominal aortic aneurysm 64 days later. The dad-of-one was told by doctors he had been a "walking time bomb" and underwent emergency surgery. But he developed complications, including a torn bowel, suspected to have been caused by painkillers he had been advised to take for his back pain. Graham spent more than seven weeks in intensive care and has been left permanently disabled as a result of his ordeal. The former chief foreman is unable to work after being left with a stoma, mobility problems and the large abdominal hernia. Graham's wife, Sarah, 44, has also been forced to give up her job as a healthcare assistant to become his full-time carer. Lawyers have now secured Graham an undisclosed settlement after two doctors and a hospital trust involved in his care denied liability. I lost 14 stone and finally had my loose skin removed, but it was totally botched and I look like I've been left with a permanent hernia Graham, of Stourbrige, West Mids., said: "I was in pain for months. "It started in my back and gradually spread to my abdomen, groin, and down my left leg. "I could barely move and spent most of my time lying on the settee. "I knew something wasn't right and the lump I found in my stomach was pulsating in time with my heartbeat. "When they diagnosed my aneurysm, the doctors told me it was one of the biggest they'd ever seen and I was a walking time bomb. "They believed it had already ruptured several times. "Because it was leaking it had probably relieved some of the pressure and had stopped it fully rupturing and killing me. "I was told that you could probably only fit a cigarette paper between the aneurysm and my spine and that it had worn my spine down." Graham's emergency surgery went well, but afterwards he felt three pops inside of him. It turned out his bowel had perforated. He continued: " I needed another emergency surgery and was told I'd need a stoma. At first, I refused. I was devastated. "Sarah had to convince me it was the only way to save my life. "It wasn't a case of staying in hospital, getting better and going home. "I've been left with permanent nerve damage, muscle wasting in my leg, I can't work and Sarah has had to give up her job to care for me. "My stomach is unsightly and I have a stoma that can't be reversed. I've been told any further surgery on my abdomen would be very risky and complicated. "Our lives will never be the same again. "I just hope that by sharing what happened to me I can help raise awareness so others don't have to suffer." 5 5 Jenna Harris, the lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Graham, said: "We firmly believe that those involved in Graham's care failed to conduct appropriate examinations and arrange and report back on a MRI scan in a timely fashion, especially in light of Graham complaining of symptoms associated with an abdominal aortic aneurysm. "If Graham had received the care we say he should, we believe his condition would have been diagnosed sooner and he wouldn't have gone to suffer life-changing complications. "Nothing can make up for Graham's ordeal but we're pleased to have secured this settlement allowing him to access the ongoing support he requires. "An abdominal aortic aneurysm can be life-threatening, especially if they rupture. "Therefore, it's vital people are aware of the possible signs. Early detection and treatment are crucial in managing the condition and preventing potentially fatal complications." What is an abdominal aortic aneurysm? AN abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a swelling in the aorta, the artery that carries blood from the heart to the tummy (abdomen). Most aneurysms do not cause any problems, but they can be serious because there's a risk they could burst (rupture). They often have no symptoms, but when they get bigger, you might notice: tummy or back pain a pulsing feeling in your tummy You should see a GP if: you have tummy or back pain that does not go away or keeps coming back you feel a lump in your tummy These symptoms can be caused by lots of things and do not mean you have an abdominal aortic aneurysm, but it's best to get them checked. Call 999 if you or someone else: have sudden, severe pain in your tummy or back are struggling to breathe or have stopped breathing have pale or grey skin (on brown or black skin this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet) lose consciousness These could be signs of an abdominal aortic aneurysm bursting (rupturing). This is a life-threatening emergency that needs to be treated in hospital as soon as possible. Source: NHS
