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NHS failing to provide health checks
August 20, 2012
An exclusive investigation by GP magazine suggests that many NHS trusts are not providing enough health checks for 40 to 74-year-olds.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) in England are failing to give health checks to enough patients, research suggests.
GP magazine submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to see whether PCTs were providing the check-ups, which are designed to identify patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
Under the programme, 15 million people between the ages of 40 and 74 should be screened for risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and stroke by 2018.
Participants are offered a range of straightforward tests, including blood pressure and cholesterol tests, as well as a body mass index (BMI) measurement.
But GP magazine's investigation suggests that as many as nine million patients will miss out unless PCTs greatly improve their provision.
Last year, almost two-thirds (64 percent) of PCTs failed to provide enough NHS health checks to meet the target number.
And one in five expects to miss the government's targets for 2012-13.
Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chairman of the GPs Committee, told the magazine that the programme was "patchy in uptake and, probably, effectiveness".
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