In an article published in the journal Evidence Based Nursing, I comment on a recent Cochrane review of general health checks. These are checks that aim to detect risk factors and diseases in healthy people, with the aim of either preventing a disease from developing, or treating a disease earlier in its course. The systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of general health checks found that they did not reduce morbidity or mortality, but did increase the number of new diagnoses. The review did though have several limitations. The trials included differed markedly in their definition of what constituted a ‘general health check’ and in the disease they were aiming to address. They also differed in how any newly identified risk factors or disease would be managed. In many studies, the only intervention offered was brief lifestyle advice. Some of the trials were also old, dating from the 1960s. Many of the currently available risk reduction interventions (such as the widespread use of electronic patient records for targeting specific patient groups, tools for measuring individual cardiovascular risk, and low-cost statins for primary prevention) were unavailable at the time most of these trials were carried out.
NHS budgets are under considerable pressure. It is therefore unsurprising that many NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) In England will aim to prioritise price in contract awards, But this approach is a significant threat to community-centred healthcare. While competitive tendering is a legally required, an excessive focus on costs in awarding NHS contracts risks overshadowing key factors such as established community trust, local expertise, and the long-term impact on continuity of care. This shift towards cheaper, often external, commercial providers threatens to cut the links between communities and their local health services. The argument that competitive tendering is solely about legal compliance, and not cost, is undermined by the very nature of such tendering, which by design encourages the lowest bid. This approach risks eroding the social fabric of local healthcare provision, where established relationships and understanding of specific community needs are essential. Establishe...
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