Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the launch of community diagnostic centres across England, what further steps he plans to take to undertake health checks across the community for the purposes of (a) enabling a preventative and social approach to health care and (b) reducing pressure on GPs.

The majority of NHS Health Checks are carried out in general practitioner (GP) surgeries and local pharmacies. Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are designed to provide elective diagnostics services, rather than NHS health checks. CDCs will provide patients with accessible diagnostic testing in imaging, pathology, cardiorespiratory, physiological measurements and endoscopy. GPs will be able to refer patients to a centre to access these tests closer to home and be diagnosed for a range of conditions, rather than travelling to hospital. Regions are working with local trusts and systems, diagnostic networks and primary care services to determine the location and configuration of services, based on the needs of the local population.