NHS Health Checks (NHS-Gesundheitschecks)

An NHS Health Check is a free health assessment offered to help prevent serious cardiovascular conditions by spotting risks early. For the purpose of this local service, those eligible are between 40 and 74 years old without already diagnosed long term cardiovascular health conditions, and either registered with a Somerset GP or living in Somerset. The service may be offered to staff or patients meeting this criterion. The aim of this service is to reduce access barriers for those with severe mental illnesses by combining the NHS HC opportunity with other treatment access. This may be extended to other cohorts like those accessing bariatric services as the service develops. The service will need to be run to the standard protocol for NHS Health Checks service including measurement of pulse rate, blood pressure and POCT blood cholesterol. It will enable detection of risk factors for hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, kidney dysfunction, obesity and heart arrythmias which would be referred to the patient's GP to consider formal diagnosis. It will also include lifestyle support for alcohol use, smoking, healthy weight and physical exercise.