NHS Health Check

[lathany]

The NHS offers a health check to people in the 40 to 74 age range (I don't know what happens to those over 74, although my mother would like to know!). The idea is to spot early signs (or earlier than they might be) of a range of conditions from diabetes to heart and kidney problems. Having (re)found the most recent letter about it when I tidied my desk a couple of weeks ago, I booked mine.

The check comes as two appointments. The first is simply for blood samples. This appointment is offered in the morning and you are asked to fast for twelve hours beforehand. I went along and they took three vials of blood, presumably for three different tests. It only took a few minutes and most of that was getting the correct labels on the samples.

The second appointment is the rest. You get back the results of the blood tests, have a number of other checks (height, weight, waist measurement and blood pressure) and are then asked a number of questions about your lifestyle (smoking, alcohol consumption, food choices, exercise) and your family history (my family has a lot of people who smoked and died young and then the rest are fairly healthy and long-lived). It's stated as taking twenty minutes, but mine was much quicker than that (probably less than ten). That said, I had no problems at all. All my tests came back negative, I was ready for the various questions, my family history wasn't complicated and whilst I'm technically overweight (my BMI is 25.5), it's sufficiently close to normal that doctors tend to mention it and then move on. Apparently my chance of developing a serious problem (I think she said heart) in the next ten years is 0.18 per cent.

At the end I asked what sort of things it did sometimes spot. She told me that the most common is undiagnosed diabetes. Apparently people know they've become more thirsty and tired but without realising there's an underlying condition.

Comments

[glittertigger]

I also had mine recently and it mostly consisted of being lectured about being slightly overweight and probably drinking too much (I'm fairly moderate and admitted to the full amount, but maybe they assume everyone under-reports?). It was rather tedious and demoralising. My ten-year risk of whatever health problem they calculate (I wasn't very clear either!) was 0.3%, which didn't seem worrying enough to justify the lengthy lecture.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you have no impending doom!

(When you said the other day you were going for blood tests, I had the usual etiquette quandary of not wanting to seem uninterested, and not wanting to seem nosey! Glad to hear they were just speculative - and negative!)

[venta.livejournal.com]

I had no idea these were even a thing offered. I shall look forward to mine soon (am now qualified).

I always find reporting alcohol really difficult, just because there is no typical week for me - some weeks I drink a lot, some nothing.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Does that mean that the last birthday finished in a zero? Sorry I didn't realise.

The alcohol question is easier if you've recently answered it for your dentist. :-)

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Yes, I pleased that mine was handled very practically and without long lectures. Also, I believe that one of the fictional detectives (Morse?) divided his alcohol consumption by three when asked at the hospital in the book where he spends most of it in a hospital bed.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Yes, I came out feeling happy. I'd been meaning to book it for ages at least part out of curiousity.

[venta.livejournal.com]

My dentist didn't ask :)

Latest birthday did divide by ten, but no reason you would know that!