09.06.14
New guide to help patients 'take control of health'
A new guide to the NHS Health Check has been made available – providing information, videos, case studies and lists of health and fitness apps designed to help people take control of their health.
Developed by NHS Choices, which is managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), in close collaboration with the NHS Health Check team at Public Health England, the guide also features advice for the elderly on how to improve and maintain quality of life and encourages users (men in particular) to attend their NHS Health Check.
Eligible adults in England aged 40 to 74 are invited to have a free NHS Health Check every five years. The check can detect early warning signs of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and other common causes of death and disability in the UK.
Recently, Public Health England revealed that more than 1.3 million people have accepted an offer to attend an NHS Health Check in the last 12 months, a 9.5% increase compared to the previous year.
Jamie Waterall, national lead for the NHS Health Check Programme, and part of Public Health England, said: “The NHS Health Check programme, which began in 2009, is now available for the first time across England [by all 152 local authorities].
“It is important that those eligible are aware of the benefits of the programme and the new interactive guide on NHS Choices will help people understand what the NHS Health Check is, and crucially, how it can help.”
Uptake of the NHS Health Check in the eligible population is aimed to increase from 49% to 66% by the end of the current financial year. The NHS has stated that every year the Health Check is expected to prevent 1,600 heart attacks and strokes, detect more than 20,000 cases of diabetes or kidney disease and save 650 lives.
Dr Dawn Harper, GP and TV medical presenter, encourages people to attend NHS Health Check. She said: “My own dad was found to be borderline diabetic during his NHS Health Check. Although he was feeling well his blood test showed that if he didn’t do something now, he would become diabetic.”
“He’s a prime example of someone who was otherwise fit and not on medication, has always had quite low blood pressure, hasn’t smoked for 40 or 50 years, but was found to be glucose intolerant. The NHS Health Check gave him a wake-up call and his future’s very different.”
Further information is available from the NHS Health Check guide, which is available at:
www.nhs.uk/nhshealthcheck.
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