Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to empower community pharmacists to conduct NHS Health Checks as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.

As part of their public health role, it is for local authorities to determine from whom they commission NHS Health Checks, including from community pharmacies.

The Government has commissioned an evidence-based review of the NHS Health Check programme from Public Health England with a view to maximising its benefits, and this is expected to consider and make recommendations on issues such as mode of delivery and clinical follow-up.

The NHS Long Term Plan recognised that “cardiovascular disease is the single biggest area where the NHS can save lives over the next 10 years”, principally through secondary prevention of heart attacks and strokes. NHS England is testing the most promising approaches, including through local pharmacies, for detecting hitherto undiagnosed high-risk conditions such as high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, and atrial fibrillation.

The Healthy Living Pharmacy concept has provided an opportunity for community pharmacy teams, who represent the communities they serve, to focus on consistently delivering high quality health improvement interventions, including NHS Health Checks.