NHS commissioner recommends PocDoc's community heart-screening model be built into the future of neighbourhood healthcare

Yorkshire, 15 October 2026: PocDoc, the UK’s leading digital diagnostics company, has delivered a cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening programme across West Yorkshire that a new independent evaluation from NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) says points the way for future NHS prevention. Following the findings, the ICB recommends community and outreach-based screening be considered as part of future neighbourhood health and prevention models.

The programme brought CVD screening into community settings to reach people at greater risk of undiagnosed heart disease, and those less likely to engage with traditional prevention services.

What the evaluation found

The programme screened 1,176 people across West Yorkshire and found that 58% had never previously had their cholesterol measured. Of those asked about convenience, 92% found testing more convenient than going to their GP. Nobody rated it as less convenient.

It reached the people it was designed to reach. Reflecting its targeted approach, 60% of participants were from South Asian or Black backgrounds. Among participants for whom deprivation data was available, 40% lived in the two most deprived quintiles.

Screening also uncovered significant levels of cardiovascular risk: 44% of participants recorded high total cholesterol and 71% had raised or high blood pressure. Of those for whom follow-up information was recorded, 35% were signposted to primary care or another healthcare professional.

What the ICB recommends

West Yorkshire ICB recommends that community and outreach-based cardiovascular screening be considered as part of future neighbourhood health and prevention models, particularly in areas experiencing high deprivation and unmet cardiovascular need.

It also recommends that future programmes continue to target the populations at greatest risk, including Black and South Asian communities, deprived populations and working-age adults with elevated cardiovascular risk.

How the Healthy Heart Check works

The programme used PocDoc’s Healthy Heart Check: a full cholesterol profile, BMI, NHS Heart Age and a ten-year cardiovascular risk score (QRISK3) from a single finger-prick, delivered to a smartphone in under ten minutes, with results able to flow into the patient’s NHS record and a clear pathway to follow-up for anyone at risk. No lab. No GP wait.¹

Because the test is portable and app-based, it can be delivered wherever people already are, outside traditional healthcare settings.

A growing body of evidence

The findings follow a separate peer-reviewed study in PLOS ONE, “Rapid community “Healthy Heart” screening to identify people at high risk of cardiovascular events”, which examined community cardiovascular screening using the Healthy Heart Check among 4,256 people. It found that one in five participants with a calculated cardiovascular risk score were at high risk of a heart attack or stroke within the next decade, and 60% of those identified as high risk weren’t receiving cholesterol-lowering medication.

Together, the two pieces of work add to growing evidence that bringing cardiovascular screening into communities can identify people at risk who may otherwise be missed by traditional healthcare pathways. That matters: early detection could prevent up to 80% of CVD cases.²

The findings also land on the shifts set out in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan: from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention and from analogue to digital.

They come as the Healthy Heart Check reaches a national milestone. People in 100% of UK postcode areas have now completed a test, less than three years after the flagship product launched.

What PocDoc says

Steve Roest, CEO and Co-Founder of PocDoc, said: “We are seeing growing evidence from across the NHS that technology like PocDoc’s has an important role to play in delivering the shift towards prevention. The challenge has always been reaching people before they become seriously unwell, and this evaluation demonstrates the value of bringing cardiovascular screening directly into communities.

“Nearly six in ten people screened had never had their cholesterol tested before, while more than nine in ten found it more convenient than going to their GP. West Yorkshire ICB’s recommendation that community screening should be considered as part of future neighbourhood health and prevention models is a hugely encouraging step forward.

“With PocDoc’s Healthy Heart Check now reaching people across every UK postcode area, we have an opportunity to build on this momentum and make preventative cardiovascular testing more accessible to communities across the country.”

Read the full article on the independent NHS West Yorkshire ICB evaluation: Point of Care Health Inequalities project evaluation