RESIDENTS aged 40 to 74 are being urged to get a free NHS health check.
Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet voted on Thursday to recommission a health checks service, saying the scheme is “brilliant”.
A new contract will come into force on April 1, 2027 and is worth £1.375m a year – a 25 percent increase on the previous deal.
The checks are carried out by primary care networks (PCNs) – groups of GPs surgeries – who delivered around 22,000 checks in the previous financial year.
Councillors heard that 92 percent of the annual target was reached but only nine percent of patients seen lived in the most deprived areas of the county.
Improving this figure, said health chief Alan Bailes, is the main priority for the coming year.
Lisa McNally, Worcestershire’s director of public health, reassured cabinet that PCNs only get paid if they hit their targets.
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“We’re quite strict with our money in that sense,” she said.
The checks include measurements of height, weight (BMI), waist circumference, and blood pressure, plus a blood test for cholesterol and blood sugar.
They also involves questions on lifestyle and risk factors like smoking, alcohol, activity, family history, age, sex, and ethnicity.
Results are used to calculate a 10‑year cardiovascular risk score (covering heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease), with advice provided to reduce risk.
Several councillors said they had used the service and made positive health changes as a result.
