Cardiovascular disease is responsible for 1 in 4 deaths each year: 7.6m people are reported to be living with CVD, costing £15.8bn to the wider economy. High blood pressure is associated with 50% of heart attacks/strokes: 4.8m are undiagnosed. 4.8m people estimated living with diabetes in the UK: It costs £173m a week to treat diabetes and it’s predicted that 1m people are living undiagnosed.
The NHS Health Check is designed to spot early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia. Offered every 5 years, it is available to people aged between 40 and 74. Patients are given support and advice to help them reduce or manage any risk identified. Patients may be referred on to support programmes such as the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) if at risk of Type 2 diabetes. However, the reality of delivering a health check is challenging.
Challenges include:
- Invites – Not all the eligible population are being invited
- Capacity – Not enough GP capacity to deliver the Health Check
- Uptake – Poor take up due to lack of understanding, access and convenience
- Funding- Existing primary care funding flows do not easily support or enable prevention Scalability Limited capacity in primary care to deliver a proactive service, at scale
Deploying iPLATO’s digital pathway end-to-end solution is simple. It’s customisable to your local population’s needs, with clinical support and at-home blood test kits available.
Evidence
Applying behavioural learnings from previous Health Check pilots:
- Across England, the lowest invite and delivery rates of NHS Health Checks were observed in the South West. iPLATO worked with OHID to deliver a Digital NHS Health Checks pilot in Cornwall, an area with low knowledge, interest and uptake of the programme. Strong patient engagement was achieved with key learnings around patients from differing areas of deprivation.
- In Southwark, London, an increase in uptake of 65% was achieved across 28 GP practices. Tools including downstream nudge, deadline commitment and concise language were optimised.
Please note that iPLATO is not affiliated with DHSC, OHID, or the NHS, and that iPlato is not a partner of the NHS.