MORE THAN 5,000 people across the borough received free health check-ups as part of a council project, figures show.
Reading Borough Council has announced that just over 5,200 people took part in health checks which were offered for free– and hopes that more will be able to get check-ups as a result.
It comes after the council’s Community Wellness Outreach project made appointments and walk-ins available at the shopping centre in central Reading, as well as in a number of community venues across town.
It was the result of funding from the Integrated Care Board and delivered jointly by the Meet PEET service of Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and Reading Voluntary Action.
It was launched with the aim of providing a holistic health check and wellbeing support through outreach into the community.
Councillors say that residents were alerted to a variety of health issues such as high blood pressure, high BMI (body mass index), high blood glucose, and high cholesterol–all issues that can cause problems if left untreated but which can be alleviated once identified.
The health checks also allowed a range of other additional wellbeing support to be offered, including signposting visitors on to GPs and health behaviour change support to ensure the checks led to ongoing benefits, including a successful “Give It A Go” programme to support and encourage participants to try different types of exercise.
Rachel Eden, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Education and Public Health, said:
“I’m really pleased that this project has managed to help over 5,000 people access vital information on their health, which many would have been unaware of, and to help them take action or make necessary changes.
“It is fantastic that so many people came forward along with the support from our community partners who enabled this programme to be a success.
“The idea of the project was to find a model by which to directly deliver important NHS Health Checks into our community and reach residents who may not have had easy access to checks otherwise.
“It is important to ensure residents take steps to look after themselves and get the reassurance or advice they need.
“The best way to do this is via an NHS Health Check and blood pressure checks, so please do take the time to get yourself checked.
“It can provide great peace of mind and may alert you to something underlying that you can take immediate action on.”
