Daily Mail - 16.08.2019

Page 12 QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019

Hancock to axe health

MoTs for middle-aged

By Ben Spencer

Medical Correspondent

Ministers will scrap

‘one-size-fits-all’ health

Mots for the middle-aged

and replace them with finely

tailored medical checks.
Health secretary Matt Han-
cock said the revamped nHs
Health Checks scheme will
harness modern technology
such as genetic testing to cre-
ate a personalised programme
to prevent disease later in life.
the current scheme – introduced
in 2009 – relies on a battery of
checks examining issues such as
blood pressure and cholesterol.
But it has come under criticism
for its ‘blanket’ approach with
one imperial College study sug-
gesting in 2016 that it prevented
just one heart attack or stroke
for every 4,762 people who
attended in a year.
Mr Hancock said last night:
‘Personalised, preventative
healthcare is mission critical to

the future-fit healthcare service

we want to build.’

Announcing a major review of

the programme, he said the blan-

ket approach which has defined

the scheme would become ‘a

thing of the past’.

Officials said the changes are

part of a wider shift away from a

‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to

public health, to a ‘modernised,

future-proof system’ that ‘takes

risk or personal choices into

account’. Currently, health

checks are offered on a standard

basis to everyone aged between

40 and 74, with little attention to

their individual risks or needs.

the review will explore ways to

overhaul the system by ‘empow-

ering people’ to reduce their

chance of developing conditions

such as high blood pressure or

type 2 diabetes with ‘personal-

ised, intelligent health checks’,

the Department of Health said.

Officials are yet to provide details,

but they said they would use ‘the

latest technology, techniques, and

data’ and look at factors such as

age, location and DnA to personal-

ise a patient’s health checks.

they said the ‘new-look’ pro-

gramme will draw from the lessons

of cancer diagnosis and treatment –

which is the most advanced area in

personalised medicine.

Duncan selbie, of Public Health

england, which runs the pro-

gramme, insisted the existing

scheme had been a success but

admitted ‘cutting-edge’ techniques

would improve it.

in 2013, the royal College of GPs

described the £300million-a-year

‘A data-driven,

smarter approach’

As he calls for genetic tests and ‘personalised checks’...

THE NHS has recruited 4,

Asian nurses to replace EU

staff who have quit since the

2016 Brexit referendum,

figures show.

The number of EU nurses fell

by 3,000 – but that gap has

been filled by arrivals from

the Philippines and elsewhere

in Asia. Six per cent of all NHS

staff and one in ten doctors

were from the EU in March

this year, according to the

Office for National Statistics.

It said 1.9million people were

employed in healthcare occu-

pations in 2018, with Britons

making up 88 per cent of the

workforce and non-Britons 12

per cent. They were evenly

divided between EU nationals

and non-EU. It added: ‘The

proportion of non-British

nationals has remained

broadly stable since 2012.’

There were more than a mil-

lion NHS health staff in March

this year. Six per cent were EU

nationals and eight per cent

from other countries.

4,000 Asian

nurses fill EU

staffing gaps

scheme as a ‘waste of money’. A

2015 report by the London school

of economics said it was ‘ineffec-

tive’ and a 2014 review found

that illnesses spotted during the

checks could be equally well

detected in standard care.

But a more recent study, pub-

lished last month by King’s College

London found those who attended

the checks had ‘slightly lower’ body

weight, blood pressure and smok-

ing rates six years later.

nHs medical director Professor

stephen Powis said: ‘taking a

smarter, data-driven approach has

potential both to give people the

tools they need to improve and man-

age their own health, and to focus

the time and expertise of nHs staff

on those who need them most.’

Rooney betting row:

Bookies’ boss calls

deal ‘preposterous’

By Tom Witherow

tHe boss of one of Britain’s big-

gest gambling firms described

the £7.8million tie-up between

Wayne rooney and online casino

32red as ‘preposterous’.

Kenny Alexander, the chief execu-

tive of Ladbrokes Coral owner GVC,

said putting the former england

captain in the number 32 shirt to

promote the betting firm was an

‘own goal’ for the industry.

MPs last week accused rooney,

33, of ‘selling his soul’ after agreeing

an 18-month contract to return

from the Us to play for Champion-

ship club Derby County.

Yesterday Mr Alexander became

the first gambling boss to speak out

about the deal. He said: ‘the indus-

try has got an image issue and that

is just a complete own goal. it is

preposterous and ridiculous. there

is a huge debate around problem

gambling. the industry needs not

to shoot itself in the foot.’

On tuesday, sports minister nigel

Adams branded the transfer ‘crafty’

and urged Derby to reconsider its

position. But despite criticism from

the Church of england and one of

the nHs’s top psychologists, the

club has refused to backtrack.

Half the 20 Premier League teams

and 16 of the 24 Championship sides

are sponsored by gambling firms,

and branding still appears on sta-

dium hoardings.

the deal also raised eyebrows as

rooney has had issues with gam-

bling losses before. two years ago

it emerged he had blown £500,

in just two hours playing roulette

and blackjack late at night in a

Manchester casino.

Last month GVC was fined £6mil-

lion by the industry watchdog for

‘systemic failings’ in protecting vul-

nerable customers and preventing

money laundering.

‘Own goal’: Rooney and his new

32Red-branded Derby shirt