New Greater Manchester initiative brings heart health checks into local communities, with the potential to help save thousands of lives a year

PocDoc, the UK's leading digital diagnostics company, is powering a major new Greater Manchester initiative that will bring thousands of neighbourhood cardiovascular health checks directly into local communities, targeting one of the highest concentrations of heart disease anywhere in the country.

Delivered by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the programme uses PocDoc's clinically validated Healthy Heart Check technology to improve early detection and prevention of cardiovascular disease across the region. The initiative aims to help address a challenge that claims approximately 5,460 lives in Greater Manchester every year.

Research from Health Innovation Manchester shows that cardiovascular disease costs the region an estimated £2.53 billion annually through healthcare costs, social care pressure, productivity losses and wider societal impacts¹. Healthcare costs in Manchester linked to CVD alone are estimated at £472 million a year¹. Crucially, around 70% of that overall burden is associated with modifiable risk factors, including high blood pressure, poor diet, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity¹, precisely the factors an early cardiovascular check is designed to catch.

Using PocDoc's Healthy Heart Check, residents will be able to complete a full cardiovascular assessment in minutes from a single finger-prick blood sample and smartphone-enabled diagnostics. Each check provides cholesterol levels, NHS Heart Age, and a ten-year risk assessment for heart attack and stroke, delivered within minutes, without adding any pressure to already stretched GP services.

The rollout has been deliberately designed to reach the communities least likely to engage with traditional healthcare settings, supporting earlier intervention where it is most needed. This matters because the burden of cardiovascular disease in Greater Manchester is not shared equally. CVD prevalence among over-65s is substantially higher in the most deprived communities than in the least deprived areas¹, and physically inactive people over 65 are significantly more likely to experience cardiovascular disease¹. 

By taking screening into local hubs and mobile clinics rather than waiting for people to come to a surgery, the programme is built to close that gap.

The initiative directly supports the Government's 10 Year Health Plan and demonstrates the NHS's three key shifts in action: from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital. It brings NHS-equivalent cardiovascular screening into neighbourhoods, identifies risk before symptoms appear, and does so through a fully digital diagnostic pathway that integrates with patient records.

Steve Roest, CEO and Co-Founder of PocDoc, said:

"Cardiovascular disease remains one of the biggest health challenges facing communities across Greater Manchester, both in terms of lives lost and the wider impact on families, communities and the healthcare system.

"PocDoc working with the British Heart Foundation and Health Innovation Manchester demonstrates how neighbourhood healthcare and digital diagnostics can work together to bring preventative screening directly into communities.

"By making clinically validated heart health checks more accessible through local hubs and mobile clinics, we can help more people understand their cardiovascular risk earlier and support intervention before serious conditions develop."

Ben Bridgewater, Chief Executive of Health Innovation Manchester, said:

"This project is a powerful example of how we are delivering on our vision to improve the lives of local people by accelerating innovation where it is needed most. By bringing NHS Health Checks directly into communities and combining them with rapid, point-of-care testing, we are addressing some of the most significant drivers of cardiovascular disease and health inequality.

"Working in partnership across the NHS, academia, industry and the voluntary sector, this programme reflects our commitment to deploying innovation at scale, supporting earlier intervention, and ensuring that advances in care reach those who are traditionally underserved."