'Midlife MOT' DIY test kits to be sent to all over-40s
‘Midlife MOT’ DIY test kits to be sent to all over-40s under huge shake-up of NHS scheme
- 15million adults aged from 40 to 74 will be eligible for the NHS’s new digital MoT
- Patients will be invited to complete a health assessment on their phone or laptop
A DIY health check for the middle-aged to carry out in their own home is set to be rolled out from next spring.
Some 15million adults aged from 40 to 74 across England will be eligible for the NHS’s new digital MoT.
Patients will be invited to complete a health assessment on their phone or laptop, providing answers to questions about their weight, height, diet, alcohol intake and exercise.
A blood testing kit to check cholesterol levels will be sent to them and they will be asked to get a blood pressure reading at a pharmacy.
After analysis, anyone with early signs of problems, such as diabetes or heart disease, will be offered help, including referrals to weight-loss clinics or medication.
People will be asked to take a blood pressure test at a pharmacy (PA)
Cardiovascular disease is the second biggest killer in England, affecting around 6.4million people. And a record 5million Brits are living with diabetes, which raise the risk of stroke, heart attacks and heart failure.
The Government believes each health check will save 20 minutes of NHS time.
It says the new digital check will help to identify 200,000 people who could benefit from the use of statins, 30,000 cases of hypertension and prevent around 400 heart attacks and strokes over the first four years.
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The US-based researchers discovered women in their thirties are 60 per cent more likely now to have a problematic relationship with alcohol than women of the same age in the 1990s
The scheme is an extension of the midlife health checks which are already available face-to-face at GP surgeries.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: ‘Thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented every year through simple health checks, which could save lives and ease pressure on the NHS.
‘This could play an important role in helping people live healthier for longer and saving lives in the coming years, while reducing pressure on the NHS.’
Existing NHS health checks for people in the same age group take place face-to-face with a GP and concerns have been expressed that elderly people are not left behind if they struggle with technology.
David Baines, vice chair of the Local Government Association, told The Times: ‘Making more digital health checks available is a useful tool to detect certain illnesses but it should be treated as an addition to, not a replacement for, a physical health check.’
It comes as an Australian study showed vitamin D supplements could reduce the risk of a heart attack by a fifth in over-60s.
Participants who took supplements had 19 per cent fewer heart attacks and cut their odds of needing heart bypass surgery by 11 per cent.
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