NHS Health Checks - end-to-end planning and delivery
NHS Leeds commissioned our social marketing team to gain insight into how the uptake of NHS Health Checks can be maximised in GP settings. This public and health professional consultation involved engaging with four distinct audiences: GPs delivering NHS Health Checks, attendees, non-attendees, and health and lifestyle referral service leads.
Our research included an electronic survey completed by 25 practices, a series of focus groups and depth interviews with Leeds residents, a patient experience survey and interviews with health professionals connected to the NHS Health Check programme.
The insight revealed that many local people were confused about what NHS Health Checks were, whether they'd had one already and what benefits they can bring. We also found that many of those who'd had an NHS Health Check were not receiving adequate information about their risk level.
Our social marketing team worked closely with NHS Leeds to make key recommendations for the programme. This included consistent promotion of NHS Health Checks within practices, using invitation and follow up methods to maximise engagement, communicating risk and delivering NHS Health Check results to attendees.
We are continuing to work with NHS Leeds to understand how the variations in GPs’ processes and delivery impact on the uptake of the initial invitation and referral into health and lifestyle services.
