Majority of patients not attending NHS health checks

While NHS waiting lists remain at heightened levels, many patients are still turning down the opportunity to detect health issues early. New analysis from Broadstone suggests there is a growing gap between UK residents invited to NHS health checks, and the number actually taking up the offer of preventative care.

Recent years have seen the UK’s National Health Service underfunded and inadequately staffed – leading to waiting lists stretching to their worst levels in decades. With the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic also putting pressure on those services, citizens who can afford to pay for healthcare have increasingly been going private to expedite their care.

However, new data from the Department for Health Improvement and Disparities has shown that there are still important services available on the NHS, which UK residents could avail themselves of to give themselves a health boost. A free NHS Health Check can patients over 40 years old to spot early signs of major conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer – and flag signs of dementia for those over 65. The checks can then recommend preventative treatments to help lessen the risks to patients, enabling many of them to enjoy longer lives.

But, according to analysis of the data by independent consultancy Broadstone, while the latest quarter of the 2024/25 year saw the NHS offer an all-time high 973,846 health checks, only 347,837 people took the NHS up on that offer. That meant that 74% - or 626,009 – of patients did not take advantage of the free check-up for their general health.

NHS Health Checks should be offered by a GP or local council every five years to those aged 40-74 with no pre-existing health conditions. And the process has improved dramatically in recent years, in spite of historic strains to the UK’s health infrastructure. Data also shows a clear post-pandemic trend of Health Check invitations rapidly bouncing back and then exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

But at the same time, the numbers actually attending have remained broadly flat – if not trending downwards. Broadstone found, for example, that in the same period of 2019/20, 742,000 invitations were issued, with 43% uptake resulting in 322,000 Health Checks.

Emily Jones, client consulting director at Broadstone, said, “NHS Health Checks remain a vital first line of defence against chronic illnesses and so it is disappointing to see that uptake levels have reduced recently despite increasing efforts to invite more people. By catching more serious conditions early on, people can make lifestyle adjustments that may avoid or delay the onset of some of these conditions or reduce their seriousness. Declining uptake could be down to time constraints, challenges in contacting or accessing the local GP practice, anxieties around what may be identified or simply a lack of awareness about the long-term health benefits of attendance.”