NHS Health Check eBulletin

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NHS Health Check e-Bulletin - April 2020

Operational update

Katherine Thompson

 KT headshot

Head of Cardiovascular disease prevention, Public Health England.

Firstly, and most importantly, I hope you are all keeping well as we all find ourselves having to adapt to a ‘new’ normal routine, from work, to wellbeing and caring for our families. The fight against COVID-19 is of upmost importance and I wanted to relay my heartfelt thanks to everyone who is contributing to the current response, from the provision of frontline services to heeding the Government’s advice to stay at home – we are all helping to make a difference.

In light of the ongoing pressures in responding to COVID-19, we are mindful of the need to adapt our routine timelines for the return of local NHS Health Check data. With this in mind, we have postponed the local authority return of data for the period covering the 1 January – 31 March 2020 (Q4) inclusive to 24 July 2020 as well as data for the period covering 1 April – 30 June 2020 (Q1) inclusive to 4 September 2020. We have also extended, to the 29 July, the deadline for local authorities that wish to submit a locally calculated total eligible population for 2020/21. If your area is content to accept the PHE calculated TEP (found here) then no further action is required.

I know that the COVID-19 response will also have important implications for local authorities as commissioners of public health services. NHSE/I have written to CCGs and trusts to provide guidance on workload prioritisation and the need for these local decisions to be made in conjunction with the Director of Public Health. Additionally, Cabinet Office has issued helpful guidance and FAQs on managing contracts and supplier payments. Clearly, the current circumstances are also impacting on those with an existing diagnosis of CVD, which is why it is fantastic to see so many partners making information, training and resources widely available. For more information on the work by our partners relating to CVD visit our latest news.

Finally, if you do find yourself with time to catch up on some reading then I would encourage you to take a look at the full report and top tips we’ve recently published on the NHS Health Check digital exemplar discovery phase. These resources aim to support providers, commissioners and stakeholders interested in the role of digital in supporting the implementation of NHS Health Checks. Finally, I received a number of questions about the new cirrhosis content in the Best Practice Guidance published in October 2019. As a result, we’ve released a slightly updated version of the guidance.

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