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Private companies offering health checks, usually in the form of blood tests, are creating more work for overstretched NHS staff, according to an investigation by The BMJ.
These companies offer tests for a range of conditions and deficiencies, with some claiming they are able to predict how many healthy years of life a person has left.
Concerned about their results, many people then turn to their GP to ask for a review. The BMJ and the British Medical Association (BMA) say this is causing unnecessary extra work for clinicians who are already under a huge amount of pressure.
The blood tests often contradict official medical guidance
Examples of private testing include regular blood tests which promise to identify vitamin deficiencies and allergies/intolerances, a tiredness and fatigue finger prick test, and screening with the option of a full refund if users’ results fall within the normal range.
Journalist Emma Wilkinson, who led the investigation, found that these tests often contradict official medical guidance and don’t fully explain the implications of the results for the patient.
This can cause unnecessary worry and anxiety among patients, and experts are now calling for clear regulation to prevent more poor quality, over-hyped testing with potential harms to individuals and added cost for the NHS.
Bernie Croal, president of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, points out that 5% of test results will lie outside the normal reference range, so very few people will have no “abnormal” results, even if there’s nothing wrong with them.
GPs put in an “incredibly difficult position”
Dr Preeti Shukla, BMA GP committee clinical and prescribing lead, says the rise in these private health checks is “a real concern for GPs and their NHS colleagues”.
She said: “Providing people with test results with no context or explanation, nor with any follow-up arrangements, can cause unnecessary worry and anxiety, and it puts GPs in an incredibly difficult position if they are asked to interpret and explain results of tests that they have not initiated, and make decisions based on them.
“It should not be the NHS’s job to clear up the mess left from ill-thought-through profit-making schemes like this.”
While the BMA says they will continue to encourage anyone with “worrying symptoms or health concerns” to approach their GP practice, they would like to see the companies themselves begin to offer follow-up care.
The National Screening Committee does not recommend the use of high street health checks
The National Screening Committee has made it clear that it does not recommend these tests for public use “because it is not clear that the benefits outweigh the harms, and the RCGP has previously published a position statement stating that organisations initiating the screening “should not assume GPs will deal with the results”.
Now, experts are calling for better regulation and are encouraging the CQC (and screening companies themselves) to appraise apps that promote private screening.
Dr Margaret McCartney and colleagues say the NHS “needs to robustly explain the criteria for high quality screening and testing, and explain when consumers should be sceptical and what they should question.”
They also say that these private companies should be responsible for undertaking further investigation of abnormal test results as this “could help reduce negative impact on the NHS.”