Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the NHS Health Check digitisation (a) reaches all communities equitably and (b) does not exacerbate health inequalities for dementia.

The NHS Health Check Online service is being developed to improve access and engagement with the cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention programme by enabling people to take a check at home, at a time convenient to them. The digital service will complement the face-to-face programme and is based on extensive user research and behavioural insight to ensure the service meets user needs.

Increasing uptake in the NHS Health Check Programme through the new online service, for those who are willing and able to do so, will free up primary care capacity to target resources towards underserved groups at the highest risk of CVD.

A six-month pilot in three local authorities will begin from spring 2025, and, as part of the independent evaluation, we will examine the impact on health inequalities. The results of this will inform the development and rollout of the online service in future.

The online service will follow the same assessments and criteria as the current service, signposting people to behavioural support, such as smoking cessation, and clinical management where appropriate. This includes making people aware of the signs and symptoms of dementia and being signposted to memory services as appropriate.