City council targeting more health checks to disadvantaged communities

More people in Stoke-on-Trent will have easier access vital health checks thanks to a new approach to delivering the national NHS Health Check programme.

The NHS Health Check programme offers adults aged 40-74 a check-up every five years to monitor for early signs of conditions such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

Now, the city council is changing the way it commissions health checks by working with GPs and offering contracts to target health checks to vulnerable and harder-to-reach groups across the city.

Funding for this will come from a national grant, with £370,000 allocated to NHS health checks in the city.

Providers will be paid according to their performance on a ‘per check’ basis. They will be expected to organise several events each year and deliver 100 health checks per event.

The initiative links in with the city council’s wider work to help residents live healthy, independent lives through the Live Life to the Max campaign.

Councillor Lynn Watkins, cabinet member for health integration and wellbeing at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “These health checks are an important preventative measure to help reduce health inequality in our city. Those at higher risk of cardiovascular disease are often the least likely to have the potentially lifesaving check-ups, so it is important we offer them to as many of our residents as possible.

“I welcome these measures that will target communities where uptake is low, as this will improve outcomes for disadvantaged communities as we look to create a fairer, healthier Stoke-on-Trent. I encourage everybody eligible to make an appointment.”

For more information on NHS Health Checks, visit: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/  

To schedule an appointment for a health check, please contact your GP or local pharmacy.

For more information about the Live Life to the Max campaign, visit: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/livelifetothemax