Community Providers of the NHS Health Check CVD Prevention Programme Target Younger and More Deprived People

Abstract

In April 2009, the Department of Health in England implemented the NHS Health Check Programme. NHS Health Check is a national risk assessment and management programme for those aged 40 to 74 living in England, who do not have an existing vascular disease, and who are not currently being treated for certain risk factors. It is aimed at preventing heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease and raising awareness of dementia for those aged 65-74. Patients identified as having preclinical symptoms of disease are referred for formal diagnosis and enter established care pathways. The remainder of the population is managed within the programme, either with a brief lifestyle intervention or signposting to local services for more intensive intervention.(1) The programme aims to reduce health inequalities associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD).(2) The NHS Health Check programme is delivered through contracts with service providers such as general practices and community providers. Whereas general practices offer the vast majority of their Health Checks by appointments, community providers offer opportunistic checks.(3) Between 2008 and 2013, PCT public health commissioners commissioned community providers using Health Options® software and Point of Care Testing (POCT) to deliver the Health Check Programme in pharmacies, community settings and businesses. These providers were commissioned to conduct Health Checks with the aim of reducing health inequalities by targeting more deprived individuals and more ethnic minorities. In 2013, Public Health England reasserted their commitment to strengthening the programme in deprived communities and among ethnic minorities.(4) There has been no national study assessing the impact of delivering the Health 15th International Conference on Integrated Care, Edinburgh, UK, March 25-27, 2015 1 International Journal of Integrated Care – Volume 15, 27 May – URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-117095– http://www.ijic.org/ Check programme with community providers. The current analysis examined the effectiveness of community providers in targeting ethnic minorities and deprived communities. The analysis is based on a comparison of patient level data collected by outreach providers to the general population data in 8 regions of England across 29 local authorities (LAs). Target population included 41,570 individuals who received a Health Check carried out by community providers from the January 3