A study of the provision of health checks and health‐promotion clinics in 18 general practices

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Summary The objective of this study was to describe the variation in provision of health checks and health‐promotion clinics operating under the regulations of the 1990 Contract for general practice in the UK. Eighteen group practices in three Family Health Service Authority (FHSA) areas of England (two in the South West Thames region and one in the Yorkshire region) were selected for the study. The nurses, largely responsible for the implementation of the health checks at these practices, were interviewed using semi‐structured interview schedules. They were asked about age‐groups targeted, means of recruiting patients for clinics, duration of clinic appointments, and procedures carried out in clinics. All practices offered health checks, and 55% had started doing so before introduction of the 1990 Contract. Recruitment for health checks took place in a number of ways: self‐referral (83% of practices); opportunistically in those with coronary heart disease risk factors (78%); opportunistically during attendance for cervical smears (62%); screening in at least one patient group (78%). Blood pressure, height, weight, urinalysis and life‐style advice were included by all practices. Stress management and quit smoking strategies were offered only by a minority of practices. Duration of first health‐check appointment ranged between 15 and 30 minutes. The basic content of health checks, and life‐style advice given appeared consistent between the widely varying practices. However, the resources available for intervention and follow up showed more variation.