NHS Health Check Standard
The NHS Health Check is an important public health programme aimed at preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among adults aged 40-74 in England. By promoting early awareness, assessment, and management of key risk factors, it targets conditions contributing to premature death, disability, and health inequalities.
With over 1.2 million annual appointments, the program relies on accurate data recording to ensure appropriate clinical actions and treatments are carried out. Currently, several clinical templates are used to record the information gathered during a health check. This information standard will ensure high quality, standardised data is regularly collected and can be used effectively to risk assess NHS Health Check attendees.
Current release
Version: v1.3.0 |
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Supporting documentation | Description/purpose |
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Implementation guidance | This document includes general implementation guidance for all PRSB standards. Detailed implementation guidance specific to this standard are included within the information model. |
Business rules | Rules for implementation of the standard. |
Final report | Describes the purpose, methodolgy and stakeholder engagement for developing the standard, along with the findings and recommendations for further work. |
 | The online survey was part of the consultation approach in the development of the standard and came after detailed work on specific topic areas and a national workshop on the entire standard. |
Safety case | Summarises the hazards which could result from implementing the standard. |
Hazard log | Details the potential hazards from implementing the standard with their risk rating and mitigation. |
Provenance data | Defines the information on who made a record entry and who carried out the activity, where and when. |
From 01 January 2026, this standard will be owned and managed by NHS England and is made available for reuse or amendment under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL 3.0). A review of the ongoing requirement for this standard will be undertaken by NHS England. Details on this and any update to the standard will be published on the NHS Standards Directory. If you have any questions or feedback relating to this standard, please email: england.standards.assurance@nhs.net.
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About this standard
The PRSB has developed an information standard to ensure standardised data of high quality is regularly collected and can be used effectively to risk assess NHS Health Check attendees, together with a record of follow up actions (referrals, advice, signposting).
Benefits:
- Reducing burden in terms of staff time for NHS Health Check commissioners, providers and IT suppliers.
- Allowing accurate flagging of patients eligible for an NHS Health Check, therefore patients who would benefit for a check are invited in a timely manner. Patients not eligible are not called in un-necessarily.
- Supporting high quality delivery of the NHS Health Check programme.
- Appropriately informing clinical action, treatment and follow up of NHS Health Check attendees.
- Ensuring local and national monitoring and evaluation of the NHS Health Check programme is based on high quality data.
Scope:
- Adults and older adults aged 40 to 74 with no pre-existing cardiovascular conditions.
- Scope includes recording of agreed actions, next steps and signposting.
Out of scope:
- Annual physical health checks for learning disabilities.
- Annual physical health assessments for those with severe mental illnesses.
- Physical health checks in prison.
- The development of personalised care and support plans (PCSPs).
Examples
To give a clearer idea of how the standard works in practice, PRSB have created scenario examples.
Endorsement
This standard has been endorsed by the following organisations: