five benefits of health checks for your clients
Whether it’s monitoring key health markers or detecting the risk of common cancers, health checks and screenings play a crucial role in our long-term health.
Just as car owners routinely book services and MOTs to keep their vehicles running smoothly and avoid future issues, we should apply the same level of care to our own bodies. Yet, many of us neglect regular health checks, despite the vital role they play in preventing problems before they arise.
“By better understanding the numbers and choices impacting our health and wellbeing we can be in a far better position to understand the things we can do to positively impact it”
Dr Katie Tryon, Vitality
The NHS offers a health check to anyone between the ages of 40 and 74 once every five years, as part of a national scheme to prevent ill-health. However, according to some analysis the number of adults attending these checks has dropped to a two-year low with over half a million declining the invitation [1].
As humans we tend to be overly optimistic, especially when it comes to our health, so it’s perhaps not surprising that many people fail to attend these checks. As Vitality’s Dr Katie Tryon says, ‘the assumption is: I feel OK, so I must be OK.’
But as we know, prevention is usually better than cure and the range of health checks offered on Private Medical Insurance (PMI) plans play a crucial role in helping people understand their health and take proactive steps. Here are five key benefits for your clients, and why it’s worth encouraging them to use these essential services.
1. Kickstarting behaviour change with online health reviews
Because we often think we’re in tip-top health, we aren’t as aware as we should be of the impact our lifestyle choices might be having on our health.
By asking people a few simple questions about their health and lifestyle habits and presenting them with their Vitality Age, we can kickstart meaningful behaviour change.
Vitality’s online Health Profile also employs a traffic light system to visually showcase which areas of a member’s health they could focus on changing to have the biggest positive impact.
“By better understanding the numbers and choices impacting our health and wellbeing we can be in a far better position to understand the things we can do to positively impact it”, say’s Dr Tryon.
2. Annual monitoring of key health markers
Understanding our baseline health, through key markers such as body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose, can help to build a picture of our overall health and wellbeing.
Measuring these health markers each year – through a clinician-led Vitality Health Check - can also give a more accurate assessment than self-reporting alone. Indeed, we see from Vitality data that members are around four times more likely to be identified as having an at-risk reading for hypertension, cholesterol or blood glucose levels through a health check with a clinician, than their self-reported numbers would suggest.
If left unchecked, these can lead to other, more serious health issues arising. High blood pressure, for example, can lead to any number of problems, including heart attack and stroke. Which is why it’s vital to trigger people to take positive steps to improve their health.
3. Prevent health problems through more comprehensive assessments
Even when we do look after ourselves, health issues can often go undetected or undiagnosed until they fully materialise.
This is where measuring and assessing a more extensive range of health markers and risks can be important, for both preventing illness and intervening as early as possible if something is amiss.
A more in-depth, comprehensive Bluecrest Health Assessment offers client’s a full body MOT, checking everything from cardiology, kidney health and stroke risk, alongside an extensive range of other general health indicators.
Available to clients at a discounted rate, these Health Assessments aren’t just another way of unlocking immediate value from a plan, they can also be a lifesaver, as we heard in the case of Vitality member James, who discovered he had early stage prostate cancer.
4. Improving early cancer diagnosis through screenings
Like any condition, the earlier cancer is detected the better the chances of positive treatment outcomes. Over and above the preventative health checks and assessments outlined already, which can help to address lifestyle risk factors that cause cancer, screenings are also vital.
It’s why in 2023 Vitality rolled out a new online Cancer Risk Assessment to all health insurance members. Those who are identified as being ‘at risk’ will have access to discounted screenings for breast, bowel, cervical, prostate and skin cancer, enabling an earlier diagnosis and complementing existing NHS pathways. Since launching in, over 14,000 members have completed the Cancer Risk Assessment [2].
5. Using data to personalise health recommendations
It’s one thing helping people to understand their health, but often turning that into meaningful action and positive lifestyle changes requires a more personalised approach.
This is where Vitality’s unique Next Best Action initiative can be especially powerful. By using data from a member’s annual Health Profile, we can take a more targeted approach based on their individual circumstances, to tackle obesity – a common cause of preventable disease.
Over the last two years, with the help of our partner Second Nature, Vitality have seen incredible results on our non-medicated weight loss pathway available to eligible members* through the Vitality Programme. Around 50% of members achieved their weight loss goals through one-to-one coaching and holistic methods and 43% even reversed type-2 diabetes2.
Due to its success, Vitality recently expanded the programme to allow eligible members to get discounted access to weight loss drugs through a new pathway**. This too includes support from clinicians and pharmacists – helping ensure medication usage is monitored alongside any potential side effects and any weight loss can be sustained in the long-term.
Find out more about how Vitality's Private Medical Insurance can offer your clients access to health checks and screenings, alongside a host of other healthcare benefits:
Health Cover for your clients | Advisers | Vitality
[1] More than 500,000 people decline NHS health check for a two-year low - Health & Protection
[2] Vitality Health Claims Insights Report 2024
* Available to members with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30-plus or with a BMI of 25 or more and type-2 diabetes
** Only available to members with a BMI of 35 or above, coupled with a weight-related condition. It also requires engagement in our weight management support programme
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