20.08.13
Health MOT ‘not based on good evidence’
Over-40s health checks do not reduce deaths, the chair of the Royal College of GPs has warned.
Dr Clare Gerada said the free ‘MOTs’, designed to spot conditions like heart disease, stroke and diabetes, failed to benefit patients and could cause unnecessary worry and treatment.
Ministers have stated that the scheme could save 650 lives a year.
Dr Gerada’s comments follow a letter published in The Times by the Nordic Cochrane Centre, whose research indicates there isn’t “any proven benefit” from the checks.
The researchers looked at the use of health checks in a number of countries, including decade-old trials from the UK. Lasse Krogsbøll, one of the authors, said: “There is a danger of being diagnosed with diseases or risk factors which wouldn’t have caused any symptoms in your lifetime.”
Dr Gerada said: “Governments seem to be promoting this against good evidence. They [health checks] are not based on good evidence. They are pulling in an awful lot of people who have nothing wrong with them. And the very people you would want to be dragging in do not attend.”
A spokeswoman for Public Health England said: “We are establishing an Expert Clinical and Scientific Advisory Panel that will provide oversight of the NHS Health Check programme.
“This panel will be responsible for reviewing emerging evidence and research needs. It will also promote future research, development and evaluation of this programme.”
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