The NHS Health Check is a free check-up of overall health. It can tell a patient whether they are at higher risk of getting certain health problems, such as:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Kidney disease
- Stroke
-
During the check-up a clinician can also discuss with the patient how to reduce the risk of these conditions and dementia.
What happens at the NHS Health Check?
It takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes for an NHS Health Check. A nurse or a healthcare assistant will ask about your lifestyle and family history, as well as measure your height and weight, take your blood pressure, and do a blood test. The results of your blood tests can reveal your risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and diabetes.
If you're over 65, you'll also be given a list of dementia indications and symptoms to watch for.
After that, you'll get tailored recommendations on how to reduce your risk. This could include talking about:
- how to improve your diet and the amount of physical activity you do
- taking medicines to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol
how to lose weight or stop smoking
Do NHS Health Checks work?
With roughly 7 million people impacted by the health issues detected by the NHS Health Check, they are the leading cause of unnecessary deaths in the UK. The NHS Health Check is projected to have avoided 2,500 heart attacks or strokes in its first five years. As a result of people seeking treatment after their Health Check, this has happened…
The latest research suggests that:
- for every 30 to 40 people having an NHS Health Check, 1 person is diagnosed with high blood pressure
- for every 80 to 200 people having a Health Check, 1 person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes
- for every 6 to 10 people having an NHS Health Check, 1 person is identified as being at high risk of cardiovascular disease
We know that allocating 20 to 30 minutes for these checks can put pressure on your practice and when you generally only have 10 minutes with your patients, making the most of every minute is crucial. Our EK Health Kiosks can take care of blood pressure, height, and weight, as well as guide patients through pathway surveys, so you'll already have this information when your patient sits in front of you, cutting the time required for the NHS Health Check. So, let us explain what the EK Health Kiosk is and how it can benefit your practice, carrying out more health checks without straining resources…
Patients can use our kiosk to answer health questions from our library of 18+ Care Pathways and collect vital sign measurements without requiring the assistance of a professional. SNOMED coding is used to seamlessly integrate the results into the patient record. This improves patient flow without sacrificing care while also recording QOF data, reducing clinical time and allowing for more appointments.
How does it work?
The patient enters the kiosk with their name and date of birth, which are cross-checked against their medical records, to complete questionnaires and assessments that are relevant to them. The results are SNOMED tagged and stored in the patient's medical record, where a clinician can review them. Questionnaires that generate QOFs can be prioritised.
Asthma Pathway
Average practice size in 2021 = 9085 patients
Asthma disease prevalence = 6.48%
If 588 patients take their asthma review on the kiosk:
= contributes to £14,000 in QOF income (indicators AST007, AST008)
AND
= potential time-cost saving of £5,887
Blood Pressure Pathway
Average practice size in 2021 = 9085 patients
Asthma disease prevalence = 26.4%
If 2398 patients check their Blood Pressure on the kiosk:
= contributes to £7,543 in QOF income (indicator BP002)
AND
= potential time-cost saving of £23,000
But don’t just take our word for it, here is what a current kiosk using practice has to say…
"The Kiosk is being very helpful with our NHS Healthchecks, it has reduced the time our HCA spends with the patient by 15 minutes a patient. Rather than booking out half an hour we now book for 15 minutes and ask the patient to attend 10 mins before their appt to use the kiosk for all of the questions and readings. We are just about to step it up gradually for height, weight & BPs for all attending patients before they have their appointments.”
- Operations Manager, at Old School Surgery
To find out more about the EK Health Kiosk and what benefits it can bring to your practice, get in touch with us on 01223 812737 or hello@ekinteractive.co.uk, we’d be happy to discuss this with you and arrange a free, no obligation demo.
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