Bupa Core Health

What's included in this assessment?Show all

Medical checks

Medical history and lifestyle questionnaire Hide

What is it?

A questionnaire to understand those aspects of your health and lifestyle that may impact your risk of developing a medical condition in the future.

Blood pressure and pulse rate measurement Hide

What is it?

The heart pumps blood around the body through a network of blood vessels, carrying oxygen and nutrients to the body. This pumping action produces pressure within the arteries carrying blood away from the heart.

Why do we do this?

Blood pressure tends to rise with age and high blood pressure rarely causes any symptoms. This is why it is important for adults to check it regularly.

A higher than normal blood pressure means that the heart has to work harder to push blood along. Over the long term, hypertension (high blood pressure) is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.

A healthy blood pressure is 140/85 or lower. If you have diabetes then it is even more important that your blood pressure is lower than this.

What does the test involve?

A compression cuff is inflated around the arm and the reading is taken by the health adviser.

Body mass index calculation Hide

What is it?

Your body mass index (BMI) is one way to find out if you are a healthy weight. It is calculated using an accepted medical formula which involves calculating a ratio of your height to weight and comparing this to an accepted health range.

Why do we do this?

Carrying too much fat is the most common cause of a high BMI. Being overweight is related to health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. People with a BMI over 25 are at a higher than average risk of these conditions.

What does it involve?

Measuring your height and weight.

Waist to height ratio Hide

What is it?

A measure of the degree to which fat is stored around the middle. It is calculated by dividing your waist measurement by your height.

Why do we do this?

The way the body fat is distributed is important. People who have body fat stored mainly around the abdomen (apple shaped) – have a higher risk of developing heart disease and diabetes than people with the same amount of body fat stored mainly around the hips and thighs (pear shaped). A higher ratio indicates a greater amount of abdominal fat.

What does it involve?

Measuring your height and waist circumference.

Body fat percentage Hide

What is it?

This test works out how much of your body is made up of fat and how much is lean tissue, such as muscle and bone.

A healthy proportion of body fat depends on your age and gender.

Why do we do this?

Combined with a BMI measurement this can indicate what the best healthy weight for you is. Excess body fat can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers.

What does the test involve?

Measuring the electrical resistance of your body using a tiny electrical current which is quite painless.

Full cholesterol test profile Hide

What is it?

A number of different types of blood fat are measured including cholesterol (HDL and LDL) and triglycerides.

Cholesterol is essential in the body to make cells and hormones. Most blood cholesterol is made in the liver. But some cholesterol comes from foods such as eggs, milk and animal fats.

Triglycerides are a different type of fat. Calories that are consumed and not used immediately are converted to triglycerides and transported to fat cells in the body for storage.

Health implications

A high level of cholesterol increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. Blood cholesterol contributes to the fatty deposits that can narrow and damage coronary arteries, reducing the blood supply to the heart. This can result in angina (chest pain) or in more severe cases, a heart attack.

If your total cholesterol is high you may be advised to eat less saturated fats in your diet and increase the amount of exercise you do. Other treatment may include drug treatments.

A raised level of blood triglycerides together with high LDL can increase the risk of heart disease.

What does the test involve?

The health adviser takes a small amount of blood. Eating and drinking prior to a blood test can affect some of the blood results. You should therefore eat only dry wholemeal toast and drink only water in the six hours before your appointment, and avoid eating anything during the two hours before arriving for the test.

Fasting blood glucose Hide

What is it?

Diabetes is a condition in which the body is unable to regulate the level of glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood. According to Diabetes UK, it is estimated that 1 million people in the UK have diabetes without their knowing.

Diabetes is a significant risk factor for severe eye problems (including blindness), it greatly increases the risk of heart attack, kidney failure and severe arterial disease.

Why do we do this?

A raised glucose level may indicate diabetes. Diabetes can usually be controlled with diet, exercise or medicines, but if poorly controlled, it increases the risk of heart disease and strokes, nerve damage and blindness.

What does it involve?

Eating and drinking prior to a blood test can affect some of the blood results. You should therefore eat only dry wholemeal toast and drink only water in the six hours before your appointment, and avoid eating anything during the two hours before arriving for the test.

Coronary heart disease risk assessment Hide

What is it?

This score indicates the chance of you having a heart attack within the next 10 years.

Why do we do this?

The development of heart disease depends on a number of risk factors and management and control of these risk factors can decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease.

What does it involve?

The test is calculated by the health adviser and is based on a widely accepted algorithm based on your age, sex, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, presence of diabetes and whether you smoke or not.

Diabetes risk score Hide

What is it?

A score that indicates your risk of developing diabetes.

Why do we do this?

Diabetes is becoming more common, and can lead to many other conditions including premature heart disease and stroke.

What does it involve?

This is a simple questionnaire based on sound research, and looks at items in your lifestyle that may increase your risk of diabetes. By knowing your risk, you can make changes, and reduce the chance of developing diabetes.

Test results Hide

Your adviser will take you through your results and explain what they mean for you. They will offer advice and useful, appropriate factsheets on how you can make changes to your lifestyle to improve your health indicators and achieve your health goals.

Other useful information

Where can I attend my health check? Hide

You choose the location and appointment time to suit you. We have over 45 health assessment centres nationally for you to choose from.

Please find your nearest centre using our facilities finder.

Stringent standards to ensure high quality Hide

Clinical governance

Clinical governance is defined as "a framework through which the organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence of clinical care will flourish".

It requires that as an organisation we have:

• quality improvement activity eg audit
• a process for monitoring
• internal and external reviews
• clear policies to manage risk
• clinical incidents reporting
• a clear complaints handling policy
• management and reporting of poor performance

We are registered with the Care Quality Commission

This organisation requires that all our procedures and policies place the client as the most important stakeholder, and that we ensure client safety at all times through clear policies and procedures. We adopt these principles even in those centres which are not required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Bupa Centres are registered as required, regulated and inspected by the Care Quality Commission. Copies of the latest inspection reports are available from:

Care Quality Commission National Correspondence
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA

Telephone: 03000 616161
Website: http://www.cqc.org.uk/
Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk

Our health advisers

Our health advisers are either qualified nurses, exercise physiologists or hold other relevant healthcare qualifications, all of whom have undergone a training programme in performing health assessments. This includes training on the impact of nutrition and diet, alcohol consumption, exercise programming and the benefits of exercise, and the effects of smoking on health.

All clinical staff are subject to an enhanced CRB clearance before they commence employment.

We have a robust complaints policy

We are always pleased to hear about aspects of our service that you have particularly appreciated. We also want to hear about any problems you have experienced, so that we can deal with them speedily and improve our service for the future.

If something goes wrong, here's a simple procedure to ensure that your concerns are dealt with quickly and effectively. If you have a complaint about any aspect of our service, we would like to address this straightaway. If possible therefore, please speak to a member of staff at the centre. All centres have a complaints handler who has had specific training. Or you may prefer to talk to the centre manager.

If we cannot satisfactorily resolve your concern there and then and you wish to make a complaint by telephone or in writing, please call or write to the centre manager.

We will aim to give you a written acknowledgement of your complaint within 24 hours of receipt, unless a full reply can be made within five working days. A full response will be made within 20 working days. All complaints are dealt with confidentially and impartially.

If required, your complaint will be referred to the regional manager and may be escalated to the managing director.

We keep a record of every complaint and look at how many we receive and the reasons. We use this information along with our customer surveys to help make sure we continually improve the service we provide.

This procedure does not affect your legal rights.

Why do we do this?

We are committed to quality in all clinical areas.

Availability of tests Hide

Due to the prevalence of some diseases on older people some tests are only offered to individuals of a certain age or gender or if clinically indicated (click on the test to see if restrictions apply). For medical reasons, some tests may occasionally be omitted and this will be explained on the day.