A North East NHS Trust has joined forces with the Newcastle United Foundation (NUF) and Healthworks to improve the physical health and wellbeing of their staff.
Staff at Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW), a provider of mental health and disability services, were invited to take part in NHS health checks for over 40s.
The health check is aimed at adults aged 40-74 and is designed to sport early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia. The check involves weight, height, BMI, waist measurement, blood pressure and a cholesterol test. A check takes about 20-30 minutes and you get your results at the end of the appointment.
The Newcastle United Foundation is a charity and we work in the community with up to 54,000 people a year through our football, school and community programmes. Performing free health checks to adults over 40 is one of the many things we offer
Ashley LoweNewcastle United Foundation
The Trust invited NUF and Healthworks to hold a session at St Nicholas Hospital in Newcastle as part of their wellbeing campaign, ‘Know your Numbers’ which is a national blood pressure testing campaign to encourage adults in the UK to get their blood pressure checked.
As well as the physical checks staff received advice and information on smoking and exercise as well as calculating their risk of developing diabetes.
Healthworks is a charity based in the west end of Newcastle that helps local communities improve their health and wellbeing. Claire Laydon-Baptist from Healthworks said: “The over 40s check is a great tool for prevention, as we can spot warning signs before it becomes a problem. We can do the health checks where people work so it is really convenient for people who may otherwise struggle to find time to go to their GP.”
The over 40s checks proved very popular and after having his own check, Russell Patton, Group Director at NTW said: “I think this is an excellent initiative and a great step towards improving the health of our workforce. I would encourage anyone to attend for an over 40s check. I found it really useful as it has given me a baseline from which to work from and hopefully I will be able to see improvements as I follow the advice I’ve been given. By making small alterations to my lifestyle, it will be of great benefit to my physical health and wellbeing.”
You can find out more about the initiatives offered by the Newcastle United Foundation by visiting their website www.nufoundation.org.uk