Key Summary
- A 7-minute finger-prick cholesterol test is expanding to 70 east London pharmacies
- It’s already flagged high heart-attack and stroke risk in many people and is helping start treatment sooner
- The scheme aims to tackle health inequalities and ease GP pressure, with hopes of a national rollout if proven effective
The finger-prick blood test that provides cholesterol results in seven minutes will now be expanded to 70 more pharmacies in east London, reported the BBC.
The project run by the St Bartholomew’s Hospital was trialed in 13 pharmacies last year.
The seven-minute test spots people’s cholesterol level and identifies the early signs of cardiovascular diseases over the next decade.
The project has now completed 1,000 cholesterol tests, with 163 patients having high risk of heart attack or stroke, and 50 are now undergoing cholesterol-lowering therapies via pharmacies over GPs.
The project promotes a healthy lifestyle through a nutritious diet, regular exercise, and smoking cessation.
The clinical lead of the project, Sotiris Antoniou, told BBC that prevention of heart diseases are more affordable than its treatment.
He also added that the programme specifically focuses on people from socially deprived areas to overcome the health inequalities they face, with the support of community pharmacies.
Another intention of the project is to ease the pressure upon the GPs by sharing the responsibilities with pharmacies.
However, the programme is still under evaluation to learn about the finance regarding it.
If the results are positive, the new cholesterol testing will be available in the pharmacies across the nation.
