THE NEED for farmers to be virtually barricaded in their homes because of the foot and mouth outbreak is causing concern for local GPs who say the crisis is putting lives at risk, writes Alison Stephenson.

Black Torrington GP Asad Al-doori said the network of care in the community services was being severely affected and farmers were putting off visits to the surgery.

'There is a voluntary restriction as well as an enforced one and most farmers are barricading themselves in for fear of their livestock,' he said.

'They are putting off visits to the surgery and healthcare visits to farms are being restricted.

'The midwives, nurses and the whole of the primary care team is being affected. A lot of people manage at home with care in the community but the service is being severely curtailed because of restricted access.'

Dr Al-doori said GPs were a prime vehicle for spreading the disease so only urgent unavoidable visits were being made.

'If I attend any affected farm I am barred from going anywhere near a farm with livestock for the next five days,' he said. 'Thankfully, the health authority has been very supportive and arranged for a locum to cover until my quarantine has finished.'

The doctor has had contact with seven families and he said the situation was 'very dire'.

'One farmer with an infected premises told me that every day for 22 years he said hello and goodnight to his animals and brushed their backs each morning.

'To see the animals is distressing but when you see the farmers and their children and the looks on their faces it is devastating,' he said.

'The majority of farmers are crying in their barricades absolutely distraught that their life's work is going down the drain and there is very little support we can offer.

'Before this started farmers were isolated but now it is catastrophic. The support mechanism for them is gone because their families are not allowed in and out.'

Slaughterman Graham Godbeer, who was one of the workers laid off from Hatherleigh abattoir West Devon Meat due to a foot and mouth outbreak, had the job of slaughtering 200 animals at a farm in Highampton on Monday.

'All that was left on the farm was a cat drinking from a milk-pan — it was so depressing,' he said.

'I have worked in a slaughterhouse since I left school but killing animals on the farm is very difficult — they are treated like pets and each one had a name.

'I was shooting the family's livelihood away — I have never felt so sorry for farmers as I did that day.'