NHS Health Checks are one of those services that almost everyone agrees are a good idea, but few feel are working as well as they should. The clinical and economic case is strong. Early detection of cardiovascular risk, diabetes and kidney disease saves lives, reduces long-term NHS costs and supports people to stay healthier for longer. Yet uptake varies wildly between areas, between PCNs, and even between neighbouring practices serving similar populations.
It’s tempting to assume that this variation is down to demographics. Some communities are harder to reach. Some populations are less engaged. Some areas just “don’t respond”. But when you look closely at the data, that explanation doesn’t really hold up.
Across England there is close to a three-fold difference between the highest and lowest performing systems. That gap exists even where population profiles are broadly comparable. What that points to is something much more uncomfortable, but also much more fixable: uptake is being driven less by who patients are, and more by how the system reaches them.
This is where Redmoor Health’s approach consistently makes a difference.
Rather than treating NHS Health Checks as a volume exercise, Redmoor works on the mechanics of uptake itself.
Who is identified, how they are contacted, how easy it is to respond, and how consistently the message is reinforced across a patient’s normal interactions with their practice.
The starting point is targeting. In many areas, eligibility searches remain blunt. Invitations are still often driven by age bands or month of birth, with little reference to underlying risk or previous non-engagement. That approach creates activity, but it doesn’t necessarily create value. Large numbers of invitations go to people who are relatively low risk or who are unlikely to respond, while those who might benefit most remain under-engaged.
Redmoor supports practices to refine this step so effort is focused where it matters. That means helping teams use their existing clinical systems more effectively to identify higher-risk patients and those who have not responded to previous invitations. The result is not more invitations, but better invitations. Practices consistently see that when targeting improves, the diagnostic yield per check rises sharply, even before overall uptake increases.
The second pillar is communication. One of the most striking findings from national research is how low awareness of NHS Health Checks actually is. Fewer than four in ten adults say they know what a health check is, and awareness is lowest in the groups with the highest cardiovascular risk. Many invitation messages assume prior knowledge, use clinical language, or fail to explain what will actually happen during the appointment. For some patients, that creates anxiety. For others, it simply makes the message easy to ignore.
Redmoor focuses heavily on how invitations are written and delivered. Messages are rewritten to be clear, reassuring and recognisably from the patient’s own GP practice. The emphasis is on explaining what the check involves, why it matters, and what the patient needs to do next, without judgement or pressure. Small changes in tone and clarity consistently translate into meaningful improvements in response rates.
Crucially, Redmoor does not push a digital-only model. While online booking and SMS links work well for many patients, others need a different route. Some prefer a brief conversation. Some need reassurance in person. Some are digitally excluded altogether. Effective programmes acknowledge this reality and build in alternative pathways rather than assuming one channel will work for everyone.
Ease of action is the third critical factor. Even when targeting and messaging are right, uptake can collapse if the booking journey is complicated. Messages that ask patients to phone the practice, navigate busy lines or book weeks in advance create friction, and friction kills uptake. Redmoor works with practices to simplify this step, typically by supporting direct booking links, clearer appointment availability and straightforward re-booking if patients cancel or miss an appointment. The aim is to make saying yes easier than doing nothing.
What makes the approach particularly effective is that it doesn’t rely on a single intervention. Instead, it reinforces the same message across the places patients already interact with their practice. That includes websites, waiting room screens, posters, social media and opportunistic conversations during routine contacts. When reception staff, HCAs and clinicians all understand what an NHS Health Check is and how patients can book one, every interaction becomes a potential prompt rather than a missed opportunity.
The impact of this approach is not theoretical. In a recent 12-week pilot delivered with a local authority public health team, practices supported by Redmoor saw around a 60 percent increase in completed health checks compared to baseline. Importantly, this was achieved without additional clinical capacity. Practices delivered the checks as they normally would. The difference lay in better targeting, clearer communication and a smoother route to booking.
From a practice perspective, the financial implications are modest but meaningful. For a typical 10,000-patient list, a 25 percent relative increase in uptake often translates into an additional 200 to 250 completed checks per year. At current payment levels, that equates to roughly five to six thousand pounds of additional income. Spread across a year, the extra HCA time required is usually only a few hours per week, and the activity generally covers its own cost. More importantly, it reduces wasted effort on invitations that go nowhere and increases the likelihood that each completed check identifies genuine unmet need.
From a system perspective, the benefits are far greater. Higher uptake among higher-risk groups means earlier diagnosis, better linkage into smoking cessation, weight management and other prevention services, and lower downstream demand on acute and community care. It also helps address one of the most persistent problems in prevention policy: inequalities driven not by availability of services, but by uneven access and engagement.
Perhaps the most important lesson from Redmoor’s work is that NHS Health Checks are not failing because practices don’t care or because patients aren’t interested. They falter when the system makes it hard to do the right thing. When identification is sharper, messages are clearer, and booking is genuinely easy, uptake improves quickly and sustainably.
As ICBs, PCNs and practices look ahead to future prevention planning, the evidence increasingly points in the same direction. Investment in communication, targeting and practical support is not a “nice to have”. It is the difference between a prevention programme that exists on paper and one that actually delivers impact on the ground.
To learn more, watch the Redmoor Health video: