To ask the Minister of Health to outline any assessment his Department has made of health inequalities specific to rural populations.

Mr Nesbitt

While, in general, rural populations tend to experience better health outcomes, that can mask issues faced by rural communities such as transport connectivity, access to services and isolation. Health inequalities are a key focus for me, as I have said, and we are working across government to tackle the wider social determinants that will improve the well-being of our communities. Beyond my Live Better initiative, the Executive have a Making Life Better strategy. It sets out our commitment to creating the conditions for individuals, families and communities to take greater control of their lives and to be enabled and supported to lead healthy lives. My Department leads on work on substance use, suicide prevention, tobacco use and obesity prevention, all of which underpin the strategy. Last year, as I said, I tested Live Better, and I hope that it will inform the new neighbourhood model of care that we intend to roll out from April.

Mr Nesbitt

As the Member is aware, we do rural needs impact assessments of all our policies. We liaise with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs on future rural policy. A Department of Health Health and Social Care (HSC) forum was established to take forward work to address loneliness and social isolation, and it includes a specific focus on rural areas. My Department and its arm's-length bodies undertake rural needs impact assessments in line with the Rural Needs Act (Northern Ireland) 2016. We also engage regularly with many stakeholders, including the Northern Ireland Agri-Rural Health Forum.

Ms Flynn

Minister, in the assessments of health inequalities that are specific to rural populations, have you gathered any information on the impact of health inequalities on women from rural areas? I recently attended a meeting on the issue of endometriosis and heard how barriers to travel and access to treatment impact negatively on women in rural areas.

Mr Nesbitt

The Member will be aware that I intend to bring forward a women's health action plan, hopefully sooner rather than later. We are in the last phase of the listening exercise, in which we are trying to hear the voices of harder-to-reach women, and that applies particularly to women who live in rural areas. When that comes forward, I hope that it will inform the answer to the Member's question.

Mr Burrows

Does the Minister agree that we have the best farmers in the world but it is a particularly taxing and toiling profession? Will the Minister provide an update on the work of the farm families health programme?

Mr Nesbitt

In partnership with DAERA and the Public Health Agency, we have supported the farm families health checks programme for a number of years. The overarching aim is to improve the health and social well-being of rural farmers and farm families; increase local access to health screening services; provide health-related advice and information; and signpost to existing services for further advice and support. The Northern Trust administers the programme with the support of a full-time band 7 nurse coordinator, a part-time band 6 nurse and a band 4 programme administrator. It is also supported by a pool of band 5 nurses across all the trusts. At last year's Balmoral show, I visited the health check truck that the programme has there. This was not arranged by the farm families health check people, but, in the space of those 60 minutes, two farmers came up to say that they had randomly undertaken a check at another agricultural fair and the results had led to life-saving interventions. It is an excellent service.