On the news they it was said they (government I assume) want pharmacists to offer more health checks:
bbc.co.uk/news/health-49549306
While this sounds a reasnoble move I recall that Theresa May reduced funding for pharmacies despite her own health problems (Type I diabetic). This caused a number to close!
I posted this earlier Michael, I actually think it's a good thing, hopefully they'll be more funding available??
I do hope they’re not just looking at middle aged men as seems to have been reported....
I read people aged between 40 & 74.
Perhaps it was just the report I read
Ha, I looked at the same link that Michael posted. I do remember someone telling me I was middle aged when I hit 40, so maybe your report was right but got the gender wrong! 😂
It was 50 but the tabloids wrote 50 is the new 40! And since the introduction of stains the average age for bypasses had gone up a decade!
Across several feeds, the wording was a bit confusing, I finally had to read aloud to make real sense of the demographic the scheme is aiming at.
Oh wise ones - I had to find it!!!
It was in The Times. Not the recommendation but interesting anyway.
Martin Cowie, chairman of the European Society of Cardiology’s (ESC) digital committee, said it was “a step in the right direction” and added: “Many people at highest risk never go anywhere near a GP. It is particularly true of men who never go to their GP until they have something desperately wrong with them.” He suggested that even more people could be helped if the tests were also offered in settings such as sports matches.
The announcement coincided with a presentation of Oxford University research at the ESC Congress in Paris yesterday which showed that having raised blood pressure at the age of 40 was a strong indicator of heart attack and stroke risk in later life. Dexter Canoy, the presenter, a clinical epidemiologist, said the new high street checks could make a “significant difference” and added: “We need to find ways to target the people who aren’t seeing their GP regularly, the middle-aged men who think they are healthy, but haven’t actually been checked.”
Do women go to their GPs and come away with a cardiac diagnosis more often than men?
Without being sexist!! Do men tell the Dr everything when they go to the docs? I can only go by Kevin who, when asked by his medical team "how have you been" his reply is always I've been OK but completely forgets to mention his breathings been bad, his cough is worse and he can't walk as much as he was able to. Apart from that, I dunno 🤔
Umm! Yes OK I'm guilty as charged! Have now learnt the error of my way. Seriously though I think the idea of sports matches is a good idea
You don't think there might be too many false readings of high blood pressure at a football match!! 😂 Seriously I do agree, the more widespread the better.
I'm a season ticket holder at Tranmere Rovers - high BP is rarely an issue, trying to stop becoming comatose is more of a problem!
You wanna try supporting the posh!! (sorry, to any posh supporters on here) 😂
They're playing at Tranmere Tuesday evening 17th September, I might take a good book with me! 😊
War & peace could be a good one to take 😁
Too big - stewards wouldn't let me in with that, could be used as an offensive weapon!
Kindle? Reading app?
Birmingham City supporter - need I say anything more for sympathy!!!
You win 😢 ☺
Had a good night out with Birmingham fans while staying in Bedford the night before the Leyland Daf final in Wembley in 1991. Good game except we lost 3-2. Went back the following weekend where we beat Bolton 1-0 in the Div 3 play off final. Expensive 2 weeks!
We are quite nice fans really!! I've been a stalwart Blues fan since my dad took me to my first match at the age of 4 back in 1956 !! Not many little girls at the match apart from me as I recall!! xx
There was a group of 14 of us in a minibus going to watch the game. I used to know the Bedford area so we stayed in the Travel Lodge just outside the town. Imagine how surprised we were to spot a minibus of Birmingham fans turn up at the same time as us.
We all ended up in a little pub a 5 minute walk away - the publican was delighted to have nearly 30 football fans there all night drinking the place dry. Brilliant night, we still talk about it
That sounds amazing! I remember listening to the match in our garden with our two lads and a gang of their mates. Good times!! xx
Sounds like F1. I started following it when James Hunt came on the scene. I used to watch it standing up but these days sometimes find even the the highlights dull! I have ideas how to make it more exciting but they won't listen!
Arr, James Hunt, god he lived life to the full. I was in Corfu when I picked up a newspaper that said he'd died of a heart attack, I can remember being so shocked at the news.
Apparently this is a pilot. The funding appears to have come from NHS England and if successful may be rolled out across the country. Its not clear whether the pharmacists will have responsibility to let GP know if there are problems or if that is responsibility of patient. All seems great, however, the devil is in the detail. Of course, community pharmactists are not responsible to the local CCG and are funded differently, so a long way to go I suspect.
On the face of it a good idea but pharmacists can already do flu jabs and you can speak with them regarding minor ailments so would it be putting too much additional pressure on them? Pop ups in shopping centres sounds a good idea if held by suitably trained staff. Maybe have BP monitors in all sports centres (free ones, we have a paying one in ours). Sports matches? - Wouldn't BP be higher anyway?.
When I was in the US every WalMart in the South had a Blood Pressure Machine FREE to use for any customer Maybe TESCO could do the same here !!! Just need to remember High Blood Pressure is normally the start on a Much Longer Journey of various tests !!
Well you can't get to see a doctor, so it's that or die....or as I do use Youtube.
Slightly puzzled as you said you live in Thailand so not really applicable. Maybe, that is why you view doctors as pill sellers?
I live in Thailand half the year, but have lived in many countries and although Thailand is slightly worse it is the same everywhere. I suggest you look at how doctors are trained and what research scientists do, including those at the univeristies. They make and promote drugs, the older doctors who have gained some wisdom over the years are probably better and a few are real "healers" and promote good health, but they are in a minority. The pharma industry is all powerful and well in control of the NHS and equal abroad, no question.
In the same way to food industry plays a big part in keeping us all ill, by selling the masses crap.
I wouldn't necessarily say older Dr's are better. My husband passed out and then suffered dizzy spells. His GP was on holiday so he saw a young locum who immediately referred him to hospital where he was diagnosed with HF and fitted with an ICD as he is high risk of sudden death. When he next saw his own GP he admitted he would have just put it down to faint, (that quite scared us) anyway he retired a few months after that. His new GP wasn't long out of medical school but was definitely more supportive & proactive in his care, 6 years later she still is , maybe because her enthusiasm for the job hasn't waned yet?
You beat me to it - my former GP is only a few years younger than me and completely missed how unwell I was becoming. Dismissive to the point of being derisive, actually, when I'd complain of chest or joint pain and asked if it could be related to my heart. Got to the point I just dealt with it myself (a fool's job, I really should have been a much more squeaky wheel).
We moved house a year ago, and the new GP is a junior in her late 20s and she is completely amazing - five minutes in her exam room and I was being fast-tracked to cardiac care. I've not felt this well in decades to be honest and it's all down to her. Yes, I've been called 'a cooperative patient' but without her I don't think I'd be as well.
Sometimes youth isn't wasted on the young!
The young locum who referred Kevin to hospital is now the lead Dr in the surgery. So very grateful to him, especially as we know kevins icd has corrected his heart a few times. Whenever Kevin went to see his previous GP with any sort of ailment the GP used to point to the computer and say that's your problem and he'd be pointing at kevins DOB, Kevin was only in his 50's. For years Kevin asked for a referral to a cardiologist and was told no, had he been would his HF be less severe now if he'd been on the correct treatment earlier? However, spilt milk and all that, the main thing is he's well looked after now and his care is a 3 way thing with his cardiologist. Glad to hear you're feeling so well.
So nice to read this. My son is working in A&E for a year having qualified just over 2 years ago. He and his friends work v hard, no complaints from him. But as his mum, it’s good to hear lovely things about junior drs.
I have a tesco extra opposite me that does a £10 medical check up, blood pressure, sugar levels, weight etc. Getting an appointment with the local GP is not easy or straight forward. The waiting list to see a cardiologist around here is about 3 months and rising, and the NHS has had about 17,000 beds removed as part of the austerity process.
I think it is another smoke and mirrors exercise, now you see it , now you don't, never mind the quality , feel the width, political 3 card trick. Yet another wonderful Idea without any money attached.
I was out in Spain recently and a candidate stood on the slogan 'Every thing for me, nothing for you'. The cynics were quite amused when he got elected.
I saw your thread on circulation.
I was wondering if I ought to commen on that threadt:
"Have you ever considered retirement in Spain?"
I know there are some Spanish Cardiac nurses and consultants,
working in the UK.
Someone was raving about them.
I was very impressed by one a while ago.
I wondering if the plan is for the pharmacies to absorb the cost?
I was in the chemist today picking up repeat prescriptions for me and hubby and noticed a sign "50p for blood pressure check and £1.00 for diabetes check up".
An older lady was very upset that her blood sugar level was high (8.6). She was being referred to our GP. I couldn't help noticing she'd eaten an entire bag of jelly babies while she'd been sat in the chemist waiting for her consultation.
That's nice! Us Bluenoses certainly know how to manage despair!
I've a real soft spot for the Baggies xxx
With some of the driving, cycling and jay walking I see maybe a complimentary brain check should be included! 😎
Agree that anything to help diagnose such issues is a step in the right direction but what about the additional support to deal with new diagnosis. I've just had a letter from Western Sussex Hospitals advising me they have had a request for me to have an outpatient appointment in cardiology. Apparently there is a 10-15 week waiting list. With a lot more diagnosis being made that list is only going to get longer unless there is additional funding for hospitals.
bonus of heart disease
Heart Attack 
Struggling to get a job, is it because of my heart 💔 
Severe Heart Failure 
