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U.K. to launch nationwide preventive health programme

London: The U.K. state-funded National Health Service (NHS) is to launch a national screening programme to tackle some of the biggest killer diseases, including heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and kidney failure, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced.

The programme, the first of its kind in the world, is expected to help prevent 200,000 deaths a year among the six million or more people who suffer from these diseases, and heralds a switch in health priorities from curing illness to preventing it.

The announcement, made at a London teaching hospital, is intended to demonstrate the Prime Minister’s commitment to making the “big long-term decisions” affecting Britain, from unpopular measures such as building nuclear power stations to forcing through pay restraint in the public sector.

“Over time, everyone in Britain will have access to the right preventive health check,” Mr. Brown said. He confirmed reports in the press on Saturday that every man over 65 will undergo a simple ultrasound to detect early abdominal aortic aneurysm, or triple A — but added that this is just the first step of a much bigger preventive care programme.

“In the next few months [Health Secretary] Alan Johnson will also set out plans to introduce on the NHS a series of tests to identify vulnerability to heart and circulation problems,” he said.

“So, there will soon be check-ups on offer to monitor for heart disease, strokes, diabetes and kidney disease — conditions which affect the lives of 6.2 million people, cause 200,000 deaths each year and account for a fifth of all hospital admissions.”

Mr. Brown said more diagnostic procedures will be available in family doctors’ surgeries, making blood tests, heart monitoring and, in some cases, ultrasounds available “when you want and need them”. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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