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  • Agenda item
  • Agenda item

    Contract Monitoring Report - NHS Health Checks

    To receive a report from the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Commissioning and Public Health and the Director of Public Health, setting out the performance, outcomes and value for money of the NHS Health Check service. Committee Members are asked to note the performance and consider taking up the opportunity of a free health check.  

     

     

    Minutes:

    Mrs V Tovey, Public Health Senior Commissioning Manager, and Mr G Abi-Aad, Head of the Public Health Observatory, were in attendance for this item.

     

    1.               Mrs Tovey and Mr Scott-Clark introduced the report and clarified that health checks, which were a vital preventative measure, were a mandated cardiovascular screening programme with the aim of reducing the number of preventable deaths of people under 75.  The current service was made up of three contracts; with the Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT), with ICT services and with outreach service providers.  KCHFT sub-contracted the provision of health checks to a network of providers, including around 180 GPs and 30 community pharmacies, KCHFT were also responsible for project management and quality assurance of the programme. The track record of providing health checks in Kent was good, and Kent was exceeding the target, with around 100,000 people being invited annually and 42% of them taking up the invitation.  The annual cost to the County Council of the health checks service was £1.9million.  A challenge for Kent’s health check service was achieving equity of coverage, reaching those in areas of deprivation, who were known to be at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and men, who were shown to be statistically less likely to take up an invitation for a health check.  Outreach services were designed to help reach them and the service works local groups such as the Kent Sheds project. 

     

    2.            Mrs Tovey, Mr Scott-Clark and Mr Abi-Aad responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following:-

     

    a)    pilot projects had been undertaken to identify good locations via which outreach services could reach those less likely to attend, and these had included shopping or town centres.  To take the service into work places also reaches a ‘captive audience’. The County Council was planning to work with Public Health England to identify the best communication methods to engage people who were less likely to attend, to ensure that the maximum audience was engaged and could benefit from the process. A national study sought to identify the most effective way of wording an invitation letter to encourage attendance and this was the letter used in Kent;

     

    b)    committee Members would have the opportunity to have a health check after the committee’s next meeting on 1 May 2018, and it was hoped that as many as possible would take up this invitation; 

     

    c)    although engagement with GPs had been generally good, a few local medical practiceshad yet to commit, for various reasons.  In such cases, the County Council could reach patients on their lists directly to invite them to attend health checks via NHS England.  To have GPs as part of the service was vital, and GPs who maybe doubted that they could take on the full workload of managing the full health checks service can choose from a range of flexible contract types which included KCHFT delivering this service on their behalf;

     

    d)    health checks were a mandated service and were an important part of preventative work of the STP. By identifying potential problems early via a health check it could reduce later risk of stroke and other conditions. Addressing high blood pressure and high cholesterol were the two most vital actions to help reduce the risk of stroke;

     

    e)    patients who were already receiving treatment from their GP for any cardio-vascular condition would not be invited to have a health check, as they were not considered as needing further screening for the same condition, but such patients could still have a health ‘MOT’.  Any patient invited to and attending a health check would have their results sent to their GP for follow-up, even if their GP was not participating in the scheme and the invitation had come from KCHFT. Effective follow-up of data produced by a health check was vital, particularly in areas of greater deprivation. Follow-up of results should be as prompt as possible, to avoid unnecessary anxiety to the patient; and

     

    f)     health checks and health MOTs were a vital part of encouraging the behavioural change on which the ‘One You Kent’ campaign relied.

     

    3.         It was RESOLVED that the performance of the service and ongoing activities to deliver continuous improvement be noted.

     

    Supporting documents: