Free cholesterol tests on the NHS are great – but here’s the five-point health MOT I’d really like to see | Devi Sridhar
Source: Guardian Health ↗
The NHS in England will soon provide free cholesterol tests and blood‑pressure checks in participating high‑street pharmacies for people aged 40 to 84, following a successful pilot in north London that screened nearly 2,500 patients across 61 community pharmacies. Nineteen percent of those screened were identified as high‑risk for heart attack or stroke and were given advice or referrals for medical treatment, prompting public‑health professor Devi Sridhar to hail the rollout as a “brilliant policy move” that is convenient, inexpensive, eases pressure on GPs and hospitals, and has the potential to cut preventable suffering and deaths.
Sridhar argues that the expansion of acute‑care spending at the expense of primary‑care services has left the NHS treating illnesses after they have become serious rather than preventing them. She points to decades of population‑level research that show a handful of simple, low‑cost measurements—blood pressure, waist circumference, and basic fitness tests such as a one‑mile brisk walk or a minute of press‑ups—can provide a reliable snapshot of an individual’s risk for heart disease, type‑2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Coupled with information on smoking, alcohol use, age and family history, these metrics could form an annual “health MOT” delivered in pharmacies, identifying hidden conditions like hypertension or pre‑diabetes before they manifest as symptoms.
While acknowledging that rolling out such tests would entail upfront costs, Sridhar maintains that the long‑term savings from averting costly hospital treatments would outweigh the expense. She likens the proposed health MOT to the mandatory car MOT, suggesting that regular, accessible checks could catch silent health threats early, reducing the burden on the NHS and improving public health outcomes. The proposal, if adopted, would affect millions of adults across England, potentially reshaping preventive care delivery and shifting the system toward upstream investment rather than reactive treatment.
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The U.S.'s central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The U.S.'s economy is growing at 2.3% with inflation at 3.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the U.S.'s own central bank rate closely. With the U.S.'s unemployment at 4.4%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the U.S. depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UK's central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UK's economy is growing at 0.8% with inflation at 3.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UK's own central bank rate closely. With the UK's unemployment at 5.6%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UK depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
France's central bank rate currently stands at 2%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. France's economy is growing at 0.9% with inflation at 1.8%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track France's own central bank rate closely. With France's unemployment at 7.9%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is already under strain. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in France depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
Romania's central bank rate currently stands at 6.5%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. Romania's economy is growing at 0.7% with inflation at 7.8%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track Romania's own central bank rate closely. With Romania's unemployment at 6%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in Romania depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UAE's central bank rate currently stands at 3.65%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UAE's economy is growing at 3.1% with inflation at 2.5%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UAE's own central bank rate closely. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UAE depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.