Less than half of people in England take up ‘life saving’ health check offer

The free NHS health check, which can diagnose heart problems early, pick up signs of dementia and highlight the need to stop smoking, is offered to all patients over the age of 40. Each appointment takes around 20 minutes and is carried out by a doctor or nurse practitioner. It is offered every five years until the age of 74 and involves tests on height, weight and blood pressure.

15 million people in England are eligible for the test, but NHS statistics show that only around 7.15 million have taken up the offer.

NHS England have said that being able to identify patients with high blood pressure and/or an irregular heartbeat and therefore being able to treat them, could assist in the prevention of dangerous blood clots which could lead to strokes. They also added that if there was a higher uptake on the health check offer, there would be a reduction in the number of people with heart problems, potentially preventing thousands of vascular dementia cases.

NHS England’s national clinical director for dementia, Alistair Burns, said “Heart disease and dementia are two of the biggest health risks facing people in our country.

“Attending a free NHS health check is a great opportunity to discussing existing health conditions, and to work out how to reduce the risk of developing dementia and other illness in the future.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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