NHS Health checks scheme to be reviewed, PHE says

Public Health England (PHE) has said it will review its NHS Health Checks scheme after an evaluation of the programme found it had fallen short of performance targets.

Research conducted by Imperial College London, commissioned by the government, found that only one cardiovascular event was avoided per year for every 4,762 people who attended a health check.

The study examined around 200,000 patients and compared patients who attended a NHS Health Check with those did not, and found the reduction in the risk of a cardiovascular event was a modest 0.21 per cent.

The research also identified that there had been ‘poor initial planning’ of the programme and ‘inadequate engagement of health care professionals’.

In light of the critical evaluation, PHE said it would ‘review the emerging evidence of the programme’. The news follows past criticism of the NHS Health Checks, where GPs labeled the programme a ‘waste of money’ and warned it would fail to reach those needed it most.

The research also outlined that only 21 per cent of the eligible population attended a health check, with the Department of Health initially saying that 75 per cent needed to attend for the programme to be cost-effective.

The research concluded: “The Health Check program failed to meet all of these targets, with only 21.4 per cent coverage, and only 39.9 per cent of high-risk patients receiving statins. The performance of the Health Check programme has fallen well short of national and international performance targets for cardiovascular risk assessment programs. These findings are concerning, given that the programme is being delivered in the context of a universal health care system with well-developed primary care and high penetration of electronic medical records.”

Jamie Waterall, national lead for NHS Health Check, PHE, said: “It is important that we review all emerging evidence for this programme. PHE has an established expert group which will look at the findings of this study. The largest national evaluation of the programme shows that the NHS Health Check could have prevented 2,500 heart attacks and strokes in its first five years due to clinical treatments following the check.”

“We know that more people could benefit from the check and we are working with local teams to deliver the best possible service.’