NHS Health Check Patient Journey Evaluation

Background

In 2016 M·E·L Research was commissioned by the Public Health Team at East Sussex County Council to independently evaluate their NHS Health Check Programme as delivered in GP surgeries. The evaluation was designed to understand the patient journey, from NHS Health Check invitation through to any behaviour change or clinical intervention post-NHS Health Check.

The NHS Health Check Programme aims to improve the health and wellbeing of adults aged 40-74 years through the promotion of earlier awareness, assessment, and management of the major risk factors and conditions driving premature death, disability and health inequalities in England.

Methodology

Our evaluation was mixed-method comprising the following elements:

• Rapid (non-systematic) evidence review
• Evaluation Framework design
• 90 qualitative interviews with NHS Health Check service users
• Production of visual Customer Journey Maps
• Production of video clips to capture the patient experience
• 11 stakeholder interviews
• Secondary data analysis of NHS Health Check survey data
• Research documents approval by County Council Research Governance.

Outcomes

Our evaluation report synthesised the key findings shaped around the following themes: what is working well; key areas for improvement; and our recommendations to maximise the future benefits of the NHS Health Check Programme. Our recommendations were presented in four themes: quality; communication; training and support; and improving the evidence base.

We also set the local findings within the wider context of a systematic review of the national evidence base for the NHS Health Checks Programme which was carried out by another organisation.