Crawley MP Henry Smith welcomes announcement of new digital health checks to tackle cardiovascular disease

The current NHS Health Check has helped to prevent heart attacks and strokes and is currently a face-to-face check-up for adults in England over 40 to 74. Commissioned by local authorities and largely delivered through GP surgeries, it can help spot stroke, kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.

Around 1.3 million health checks are delivered each year, identifying 315,000 people living with obesity and 33,000 cases of hypertension, and preventing over 400 heart attacks and strokes.

From spring 2024 the new digital check will operate alongside the existing in-person NHS Health Check – and is expected to deliver an additional one million checks over four years, while easing pressure on GP surgeries.

Henry said: “I commend the Government and the NHS for confirming that Digital NHS Health Checks will be rolled out throughout England next spring with an additional one million checks in the first four years delivered.

“It’s expected that tens of thousands of cases of hypertension will be identified and hundreds of strokes and heart attacks could be prevented.

“There are immense possibilities for the NHS to utilise new technologies and as we mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service this week, it’s vital that technological advances are used as the NHS looks ahead to the next three quarters of a century.”

Cardiovascular disease is the second biggest killer in England and affects around 6.4 million people. The new digital check will help to identify 200,000 people who could benefit from the use of statins, 30,000 cases of hypertension – persistently high blood pressure – and prevent around 400 heart attacks and strokes over the first four years.

Each digital check could save an estimated 20 minutes of NHS time – freeing up hundreds of thousands of appointments in primary care and helping cut NHS waiting times.