Patients will have blood pressure checked at a pharmacy as part of the changes
(Picture: PA Wire)Face-to-face GP appointments for mid-life checkups will be moved online in a bid to ease pressure on the NHS.
Patients will be asked to fill out a questionnaire, use a kit to take a blood sample at home and carry out a blood pressure check at a pharmacy, the Times reports.
A pilot scheme begins on Monday in Cornwall with the government hoping the programme will roll out nationwide, as part of wider plans to digitise the NHS.
Mid-life checks are for anyone in England aged 40 to 74, and they can take place every five years.
They are designed to spot early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia. Anyone showing signs of these illnesses is given advice on what changes they can make to reduce their risk of being diagnosed.
Changes could be improving exercise or taking drugs like statins.
A total of 15 million people are eligible for free NHS Health Checks across England.
Neil O’Brien, the minister for public health said: “The health check is crucial in preventing and identifying potentially life-threatening conditions, and this digital version will do just that while making patients’ lives easier and reducing pressure on frontline services.”
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said the initiative has the potential to encourage more people to take an active interest in their health.
Age UK warns that in-person checks will still be needed for some patients who are not online.
In October, GPs and their teams in England carried out a record 36.1 million appointments, with 39 per cent taking place on the day they were booked and 71 per cent face to face, according to The Times.
The number of GP appointments in London in November surged past the 4.5 million mark, according to NHS Digital statistics. It marks a rise of 28 per cent in a six-month period as primary care continues to recover from the shock of the Covid pandemic.
Across the capital, around 12.1 per cent of people waited more than two weeks for an appointment in October. This is below the national average of 19.5 per cent.
But around two-thirds of appointments in London took place in person, which is still below the average pre-pandemic of around 80 per cent.
