50 per cent increase in patients attending Health Checks

New figures released by NHS Digital show that the number of patients attending NHS Health Checks has risen by over 50 per cent since 2012.

The NHS Health Check is a prevention programme delivered across England, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of over 15 million adults aged 40-74 years who do not already have a cardiovascular health condition.

Local demographic statistics on NHS Health Checks, published on 17 October for the first time, indicate that the number of patients recorded as having completed an NHS Health Check rose from 734,000 in 2012-13 to 1,109,000 in 2017-18 – peaking at 1,161,000 in 2015-16. Overall, 90 per cent of GP practices in England are captured in the dataset.

Of those recorded as completing an NHS Health Check in 2017-18, 54 per cent were female and 46 per cent were male. In the same year, 1,595,000 were recorded as having not attended their check – with 1,529,000 patients not responding, 57,000 patients declining the invitation, 7,000 not attending and 2,000 commencing but not completing their check.

NHS Digital say that 65-69-year-olds had the highest attendance rate at just over 54 per cent, while 40-44-year-olds had the lowest attendance rate with under 40 per cent of those invited in 2017-18 (240,000) recorded as having attended their check.