GP-based NHS health checks make 'no significant difference' in chronic diseases
A study published in the British Journal of General Practice found that NHS health checks do not increase the number of chronic conditions identified
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NHS health checks in general practices are ineffective at diagnosing chronic diseases, research has suggested.
GP practices that delivered the checks saw "no significant difference" in the number of cases identified compared to practices that did not offer the service, according to a study of 79 practices published in the British Journal of General Practice last week (August 1).
An analysis of 38 Warwickshire GP practices revealed they had identified 1,142 cases of chronic disease through 16,669 health checks between 2010 and 2013- a detection rate of 7 per cent. But they did not detect significantly more cases of diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease than the 41 other practices in the study that did not offer the checks.
The results implied that conditions detected as a result of the checks, which are offered to people aged 40 to 74 years, could be identified added the independent author group of doctors and public health experts.
Hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease were the most common conditions identified in the checks.
Health checks, which were introduced nationally by the Department of Health in 2009, were implemented with "little direct evaluation" of their benefits and there was a lack of published evidence on the direct outcomes of the programme, the authors said. Last year the government claimed the checks could save more than 650 lives a year if implemented correctly, based on a review by Public Health England. The authors called for further research on the issue and raised concerns that CCGs and public health departments would be unable to rely on the checks to increase the identification of chronic disease. In February, Nice warned that health checks risked becoming ineffective due to a low uptake from patients. Almost 600,000 checks were offered in the first quarter of 2013, but less than half were taken up by patients, according to statistics released by Public Health England last year. In 2012, a Cochrane review found that the checks had no effect on mortality rates and could lead to unecessary treatment of non-harmful conditions.
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