'We were looking to expand the delivery of NHS Health Checks into community settings in the early part of this year. We had worked with local GPs throughout last year and launched our GP based Health Checks programme in October last year. Our 'settings' group felt the three priority areas for development were pharmacies, prisons and workplaces. We bid for some DH money to become a 'test bed' site for the work and got some money from the DH to help with a roll out of the programme into community pharmacies.

The settings group convened to discuss how the pharmacy work would progress. Due to the short time scales involved as a 'test bed' site we chose to pilot the work in 8 pharmacies across County Durham and Darlington.

One of the pharmacists on our settings group looked into where we could get both the equipment and supporting software from, and after reviewing several options, recommended purchasing the equipment from Health Diagnostics.

They were able to supply the equipment we selected but also offered a very convenient software package to support the work, and also were able to provide specific training on how to operate the equipment. We also purchased a package of literature we could use- patient information, personal record, letters to GPs and lifestyle pathways for onward referral. They are also helping us draft a questionnaire to use as part of the evaluation of the pilot.

The machines we ordered were delivered in good time, and Health Diagnostics were helpful in working with the pharmacists to coordinate the timely delivery of the consumables.

The training provided on the use of the equipment, was well received by the pharmacists and feedback from the sessions was good.

As the project neared it's launch there were many revisions to the associated literature and Health Diagnostics were very patient in dealing with the many amendments and revisions. Health Diagnostics met with us several times to make sure the literature was what we wanted. She also liaised with the DH for the Health Checks branding we wished to use.

We held a launch event in early July and, as part of this, a demonstration of the hardware and software for the pharmacy pilot was arranged. Health Diagnostics were extremely helpful in coming to the event to support this, and helped man the demonstration along with one of our local pharmacists.

In summary, our experience with Health Diagnostics is extremely good. They have worked hard to incorporate our many requirements into the literature, and have spent additional time supporting the project. The training they provided was well received and provides a platform for the further development of the training programme we are developing to support the Health Checks programme.’

Dr Richard Healicon,
NHS County Durham and NHS Darlington