[Closed] How do you get a general check-up?

It’s an uncouth Americanism spawned in a heathen land without universal free at point of use healthcare.

In this country, we bravely pretend that there’s nothing wrong with us and that we’re absolutely fine until it gets really serious and then we rely on the good ol’ NHS to rescue us from the shit without having to  remortgage the house.

Ask your GP and/or google for an NHS Health Check.  That's what they call it here I think.

EDIT:  Here's a link for how to get one in your area:  https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/NHS-Health-Check/LocationSearch/1891

Expect a letter from your GP every 5 years

It’s an uncouth Americanism spawned in a heathen land without universal free at point of use healthcare.

My universal-healthcare-born-and-raised body rejects your apparent confusion of Canada with its southern neighbour. and I'm not sure if you meant it or not. I laud the general content of your post, though. 🙂

Canada’s just a pound shop America innit? 😉

The point was that the term most likely has it’s origins in the USA where it’s  probably more cost effective to catch any illness early while it’s cheaper to treat.

Assuming you can afford to have the check up that is.

The concept has likely crossed the border to Canadia but without the underlying financial motivation

The point was that the term most likely has it’s origins in the USA

I actually realised this when I re-read what you wrote. And the rest of what you say rings true.

I just ask for an appointment to have a check up, simple as that.

where it’s  probably more cost effective to catch any illness early while it’s cheaper to treat.

It's always more cost effective to catch illnesses early.

In the US people  make a fat profit over throwing drugs and procedures at everything, instead of treating the actual causes such as sedentary lifestyles and poor diet.  And there doesn't seem to be an actual public health programme trying to encourage you to be healthy.  If the government tried that they'd probably be sued by healthcare providers for loss of earnings.

General checkup = nice little earner for most places that rely on private health insurance.

if you're over 40, your GP should be able to do you a checkup and tap into some health promotion funding to do so.

or do what I did and mention a bit of chest tightness combined with poor family history. That gets everything checked over VERY quickly....!

Shurely thing to ask for is some sort of 'Well Man Programme/Scheme', that's what they're called round here, but they don't kick in automatically until you are 55 years old, or have underlying issues.

You can call for a check-up, obviously it won’t be a same day appointment. Expect them to chat about your prostate as they seem to once you hit 40.

Generally my GP does the whole blood pressure stuff whenever I go in.

Just been today as it happens! Recieved a letter from GP a couple of weeks ago inviting me to go for a MOT, had a blood test last week for cholesterol and blood sugar then rest of the check up today.

Nurse said I'll get another one in 5 years. I'm 48 btw

Yup, if you're over 40 you can expect your GP to be in touch..

As above, I just got invited to go in and have a check up. The irony of the nurse who did my check up and was noticeably overweight telling me that I needed to be careful as I was close to being an unhealthy weight wasn't lost on me, though I did take on board the advice about the amount of red meat I ate (I eat a lot less now). Whilst I wasn't what most people would call at all fat (and probably in the bottom 10% body fat % for my age) I have lost over a stone since then though, and feel better for it 🙂

They're every five years in the UK which I think is too infrequent so I gave myself high blood pressure and they agreed to do one annually.

The altermative is private which is a few hundred quid but can vary a lot depending on whats included.

My GP for what its worth doesnt see the point in them at all, her view is; Dont drink to much, eat too much, smoke at all, exercise and you”ll be fine probably.

Well i’d Chip in that the cornerstone of our health system, and the reason why primary care is so cost effective, is the notion of prevention!

Yeah, brain surgery may be sexy, but if you want to save lives, treat blood pressure!!

Back to the OP - you might be invited in for an NHS healthcheck (which, i believe evidence suggests aren’t as much actual use as hoped!)..but TBH, if you jsut rang your surgery stating you wanted to talk about blood pressure with your GP, they’d welcome the chance to meet you, check BP/weight etc, and discuss general health measures.

Be wary of wasting for a PSA (Prostate) check if you’ve no symptoms... checking that test in asymptomatic men does more harm that goo..

DrP

My GP has just stopped doing this. Cut backs I imagine.

Having had a big health scare a couple of years ago I was advised I would be on the yearly radar rather than 5 yearly for the non health challenged, however that seems to have gone out of the window now too...  To be honest though, I don't feel I need to have one every year so it's probably a cost saving that is warranted, for me at least.

Have my doubts whether scaring people about health is worth much. Used to have annual check through work. The usual hopeless crap, a fat wheezing doctor tried to tell me I should try to take a brisk walk 2-3 times a week until I told him I cycled over an hour to work and back each day. The young guy who suddenly dropped dead hadn’t been given any particular warning, sure he was a bit overweight but he knew that anyway and did a bit of exercise (which quite possibly brought on his death in the circumstances).

When I turned 40 I called my GP and asked for a well man check up. Had another at 45, got told off about drinking too much and told to come back at 50.

Its the practice nurse that does them at our practice. Blood pressure, bloods, blow into a tube, height, weight and general chit chat. No finger up the arse though.

If your over 40, give them a call. Free service so may as well take advantage.

Be wary of wasting for a PSA (Prostate) check if you’ve no symptoms… checking that test in asymptomatic men does more harm that goo..

DrP

There was a very good "Inside Health" broadcast from 2017 about diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, it's well worth a listen.

Sorry - that should say ASKING, not WASTING, for a PSA check!

DrP

Our neighbour is a retired GP (he was head of the local practice) and a few years ago I asked him why there weren't regular medical checkups in the same way that we have dental checkups. His answer was that they wouldn't provide a good return for the cost and effort. A good return being improved rates of early diagnosis and general medical outcome.

It's more cost effective to have targeted screening such as smear tests, etc. where there are sections of the population known to have higher risk factors. Obviously if you have personal or family history of a particular condition then regular screening for that is going to be worthwhile.

My GP for what its worth doesnt see the point in them at all, her view is; Dont drink to much, eat too much, smoke at all, exercise and you”ll be fine probably.

I got quite ill last year, difficult breathing because of fluid build up in the lungs etc. Turns out I have afib, probably had it a few years and never realised just put down feeling weak and lethargic to getting older. My afib is now established and prolonged, and it is proving resilient to treatment.

It would probably have been caught earlier by a basic health check, when treatment stood a better chance of success.

So my advise would be get it done every couple of years agter 40, insist at your doctors or go private if you have to (your health is worth more than your money). Ignore everyone and anyone who says it is pointless.

And always remember, it isn't just about adding years to your life, it is also about adding life to your years, don't spend the last half of your life inactive and suffering health problems.

I got called in at 40. Turns out I have borderline high blood pressure. So whenever I am in for any reason now, they take my blood  pressure and sometimes I end up with the machine at home for a week's worth of readings. Seems a reasonable system to me and has certainly flagged up something I need to get on top of.

I got called up shortly after I turned 40 (now not far off 44). The nurse practitioner (wider than she was tall) took one look at me, asked if I smoked (no), drank (very little) and told me to bugger off.

Worth the journey then...

Expect a letter from your GP every 5 years

45 and so far nothing, except first email ever from my GPs just saying to get a blood pressure check booked with nurse because they don't have it on record, despite them taking my blood pressure each time I've been for anything unrelated.

Looking at the NHS Health Check, I guess it's BP, weight, ask a few questions stuff. What you want is a full bloods and pee/poo test. Few years back when I was in for something decided it was about time I had a full test (full-ish, doesn't test for everything but checks common stuff).

....some good sense on this thread. I was expecting 'catch it early, it's obvious init' type stuff, but instead see sensible stuff on prevention, looking after yourself on blood pressure etc, taking up screening where this is evidence based (I'm not convinced that NHS Healthchecks are and at 55 haven't had one). One other thing is beware full body scams. sorry scans.  Unevidence-based fishing expeditions which can lead to unnecessary procedures and worry.

The science and stats can be pretty fiddly round early detection. Say you've a cancer that's going to kill you aged 62, after you started developing symptoms aged 57 - you survived five years with that cancer. But had you had some sort of check aged 52 which picked it up, you still die at 62, bingo, you survived 10 years with cancer. Result!

They were pestering me about a health check a few years back, but I declined. The BMA don't consider them a good use of resources IIRC....

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/21/nhs-wasting-450m-on-mid-life-mot-health-checks-doctors-say

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/02/nhs-health-check-over-40s-marginal-benefits-study

<i>• Barely half those invited to have a health check turn up, with smokers, young men, poorer people and some ethnic groups particularly reluctant to attend.</i>

<i>• The checks do not reduce avoidable deaths to anywhere near the extent originally envisaged in 2009.</i>

<i>The £450m budget should be spent instead on tackling the poor diet, smoking, drinking and physical inactivity that causes 80% of strokes and heart attacks.</i>

Pretty much my docs view then.

That said whether you visit the GP or do the test at home everyone over 40 should know their BP at least.

I got a letter yesterday asking me to arrange an NHS health check.  Can be done at GP or a pharmacy.  First time I have received one and presumably because I was 50 a few months ago?

Don't really need to go though as I have a 3 hour medical provided to me free every year at work.

@wilburt - basically those who care about their health in the first instance will turn up for a check-up and those who don't won't

I've mixed feelings about the Wellman test TBH. the folks that get the letter and are motivated to phone and make an appointment are not normally the folk who you need to see. We tried a phone quiz at one practice to try to weed out the folks like JonEdwards up there, who have generally good health, and for whom a wellman test reveals naught but "hey, you're in good shape"...but having said that, it's good to have folk like that who rarely come into the surgery to see them at least every 5 years JIC..

I'm generally in favour of a more interventionist health care service, it saves money in the long run...but it comes with it's own complications. I can see the "NannyState" headlines in the Mail and Sun already, and the folk who'd benefit most from it, are the folk who're most resistant to it. If I look at the stats in some of our practices at the patients we don't see? it's blokes from 35-65, but it's the money from those (generally healthier*) patients that fund the treatment for all the rest, if they actually turned up to the surgery regularly, we'd be broke.

* I'm not saying all those folk are healthy, I'm saying that there are less healthy groups than men in their middle age.

My advice for what it's worth?

If you have a problem, can't wee, struggle to breathe, persistent cough phone your GP, please. Don't just struggle on and say nowt because "I'm a man, and I don't do the GP"

If you're generally healthy, but can't remember when you last went to see your GP, phone up and book and appt just to show your face and get some basic measurements done and have a chat, BMI, diet, smoking, blood pressure and so on.

>basically those who care about their health in the first instance will turn up for a check-up and those who don’t won’t

yep, they just get the worried well turning up, who won't have anything wrong with them.

>If you have a problem, can’t wee, struggle to breathe, persistent cough phone your GP, please. Don’t just struggle on and say nowt because “I’m a man, and I don’t do the GP”

Chap in our office was exactly this. When he finally went it was pretty much too late, severe heart disease from smoking too much and never exercising. Nothing they can do, he has roughly 15% heart functionality and has to live the rest of his life out of breath walking up the stairs very slowly. No idea what his life expectancy is now, but can't be much...

54 and never been contacted by my doc for anything (ever). Last time I went in for some minor ailment I didn't even get to see my (or a) Dr. but a nurse. (Oh yeah, problem with my ear, which she misdiagnosed and cost me £9 for something which didn't help, then another £9 for something which maybe did). Last time I had a general check-up was when starting a new job 20odd years ago and the company required it. Did the whole ballbag cup "cough" thing too, which I thought was a myth ("It is Dez! lolz all round")

I need to see a doc for something now actually, but I can't be bothered because, unless I say I want to be seen immediately, they make appointments weeks away by which time the ailment has gone.

Did the whole ballbag cup “cough” thing too, which I thought was a myth

Me too but no got a full on drop her pants and cough treatment  - 37yrs ago & since I had cycled 140miles to get there they didn't both with much else 😀

Just turned 51 and never had a sniff of an mot appointment from my doctors .

Might give them a ring Monday .

they make appointments weeks away by which time the ailment has gone.

Errr...