A blood test for over-40s which checks for 200 types of disease, including most common cancers, could save the economy £12 billion a year if it was adopted by the NHS, researchers claim.
The NHS currently offers health MOTs to patients aged 40 to 75. However, the five-yearly check is normally limited to blood pressure and cholesterol, along with height, weight and waist measurements.
Diagnostic firms sell private blood tests which can check for 200 types of disease, including most common cancers.
A report by OCO Global, an independent consultancy firm, says that if the NHS provided these more comprehensive health checks, problems would be detected far earlier, ultimately saving lives and money.
The research, which has been sent to Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, says that, although each check would cost around £230 - a bill for the NHS of around £650 million a year - they would reap major rewards.
Modelling suggests that, after 16 years, the annual boost to the economy would amount to £11.7 billion - £1.83 billion in treatment costs, around £5.8 billion wider savings from health improvements, and an indirect benefit of £4 billion - based on the assumption that around half of people take up the tests.
The report was commissioned by Randox, the UK’s biggest diagnostics firm, which carried out millions of PCR tests during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It claims that the blood test’s 200 data points would enable far earlier diagnosis, similar to an approach in countries such as Japan and South Korea, where the checks are mandatory and linked to health insurance.
In Japan, which has the highest life expectancy of all G7 nations, such checks have seen a 25 per cent fall in diabetes rates, among those suffering from pre-diabetes.
‘Overdiagnosis’
The study warns that since 1960, the UK has gone from being ranked first for life expectancy among the G7 group of large, advanced economies to being ranked second last.
Critics of mass screening services have raised concerns that they could promote “overdiagnosis”, with many apparent problems investigated and in some cases treated, despite the fact they would never have caused harm.
Prof Kamila Hawthorne, chairman of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), said: “GPs recognise some of the potential benefits of screening - but also that there are risks - and the college has a clear position that we support evidence-based screening that has been approved by the national screening committee or another appropriate body such as NICE.
“National screening programmes have potentially saved millions of lives. But screening doesn’t come without risk – for example, of overdiagnosis or false positives that may cause patients considerable and unnecessary worry.
“GPs frequently report seeing very worried patients, who have taken wide-ranging self-tests privately, because the results have either been unclear or not clinically important, adding to the workload of general practice and leading to further tests having to be carried out that GPs wouldn’t have normally deemed necessary.”
Prof Hawthorne added: “Initiatives to prevent future ill health should certainly be explored - preventative medicine is a clinical priority for the RCGP - but we do have concerns about private companies lobbying for NHS contracts to provide new screening services with a view to making profit.”
But the report highlights the intense pressures on the NHS, with waiting lists of more than seven million, and 185 million working days lost to sickness every year.
As the population ages, projections suggest the number of people with a major health condition will rise by more than a third by 2040.
‘Serious diseases are detected too late’
David Davis, a former chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, urged the health service to introduce such forms of screening.
He said: “For too long the UK has been behind the curve on health testing, with less testing carried out than any other developed country. This means that serious diseases are detected too late, with the consequence of more cost for the NHS, more suffering for the patient, and often premature death.”
Dr Peter FitzGerald, Randox’s managing director, said: “Improving the health and prosperity of the nation is a lofty goal - and the report shows this initiative can more than pay for itself.”
The NHS is also piloting a “liquid biopsy” test where patients complete an online questionnaire, use a kit to take a blood sample at home, and check their blood pressure at their local pharmacy or GP’s waiting room.
More than 140,000 people have been enrolled to take part in the Galleri trial - developed by GRAIL, a private healthcare company - which can detect at least 50 types of cancer.
Studies have so far found it can detect more than half of cases of the disease, with hopes it could prevent one in 10 cancer deaths.
A spokesman for the health department said: “This Government will transform the NHS from a late-diagnosis, late-treatment health service, to one that catches illness earlier and prevents it in the first place.
“We will start by doubling the number of diagnostic scanners to help speed up diagnosis and treatment.”
