NHS Heart Check-Up events to take place across Nottinghamshire

The NHS Heart Check-up team will be at Tesco Extra on Jubilee Way South from 10am-5pm explaining to people what an NHS Heart Check-Up is and helping them book an appointment.

Further events are also being run in Worksop and Southwell.

Anyone in Nottinghamshire aged 40-74 without an existing condition is entitled to an NHS Heart Check-Up, which identifies a patient’s risk of developing heart disease, as well as kidney disease, stroke and diabetes in a simple 30 minute appointment.

If increased risk is discovered, people can then be supported to change their lifestyle to prevent serious long term conditions from developing, helping to improve health of individuals and relieving strain on the health and social care system in the longer run.

At the events, by answering a few basic health-related questions, people will be able to find out if they are eligible for a priority NHS Heart Check-Up and, if they are, they will be given an appointment at a specially arranged session run by an NHS pharmacist. Other eligible individuals that cannot attend the session will be encouraged to contact their GP about an NHS Heart Check-up.

• Across Nottinghamshire heart and circulation-related diseases are the second most common cause of death and of hospital admissions, and account for the greatest difference in length of life between the most and least deprived communities.

• There could be as many as 20,000 adults in Mansfield and Ashfield who have high blood pressure that has not been diagnosed.

• Last year only 62 per cent of the people in Nottinghamshire invited by their GP to have a health check - which would detect this serious risk - actually took up the offer.

Coun Glynn Gilfoyle, vice chairman of the Public Health committee is attending the event in Worksop and said: “NHS Heart Check-Ups very much work on the principle that prevention is better than cure, which is something that we are embracing within all of our Public Health work.

“In many cases people can be sitting on a health timebomb, unaware of the risk that they carry of developing a serious debilitating or life threatening condition. For the sake of a short appointment to assess your risk and suggest how you can alleviate it – it’s a really easy choice to make.

“We want to make sure that more people – particularly those that might not always go to their doctor - are aware of what they are entitled to and feel confident in talking to their doctor or pharmacist about it.”