How Are You Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | Health Checks and Health MOTs

Where to start with NHS Health Checks or Health MOTs – Blog Post #8

Published on Thursday 18th January 2024 by Jack Avison

To plan any journey, you need to consider your starting point as well as where you want to get to. The same is true with making health and lifestyle changes. One great tool in figuring out where you are now and what lifestyle changes you may want to make in 2024 are free NHS Health Checks or a Health MOT from Healthy You.

NHS Health Checks are free for anyone between the ages of 40 and 74, who hasn’t had a health check in the last five years. They take around 30 minutes and take measurements such as your height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar level, as well as asking a few lifestyle questions about diet, exercise and alcohol use. With this information your risk of developing conditions such as stroke, heart attack and high blood pressure can be worked out.

Based on this information, the healthcare practitioner doing the check will offer you some advice about managing these risks, and if you need support with lifestyle changes they can refer you to a member of your GP surgery’s Personalised Care Team or refer you back to your GP. Most people will be invited to an NHS Health Check by your GP every five years after the age of 40, but if you haven’t been invited and think you are eligible, you can contact your GP surgery to book an appointment or there are drop-in sessions in community venues organised by Healthy You.

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about NHS Health Check

Beth from How Are you East Cambs recently went for an NHS Health Check, here’s what she had to say about it.

If you aren’t eligible for an NHS Health Check, you may be eligible for a Health MOT with Healthy You. It is the same as an NHS Health Check but it doesn’t include the finger prick test to look at your blood – so it won’t tell you about your risk of diabetes of high cholesterol, but it can provide you with other useful health indicators. If you’d like to book a Health MOT, you can call Healthy You on 0333 005 0093 or text ‘healthyu’ to 60777. There are no charges to call or text.

Remember any lifestyle change is a marathon and not a sprint, and we all have to start somewhere. No matter how small the steps you take, you’re still closer to your goal than when you first started. Go at your own pace and you’ll get to where you want to be!

If you’re still a bit nervous about the health check and want to see exactly what happens, you can watch Beth have her NHS Health watch the above video.