NHS Expands Free Cholesterol Checks to 100 Pharmacies

NHS England will expand free, rapid cholesterol checks to approximately 100 community pharmacies across England starting this autumn, following a successful pilot in north London that found one in five participants were at high risk of heart attack or stroke within the next decade. The initiative, part of a broader push to shift preventive care into community settings, aims to identify cardiovascular risk in people who may otherwise remain undiagnosed. The program offers a quick, fingerprick blood test that analyzes a person's cholesterol profile in about seven minutes. Eligible individuals are those aged 40 to 84 who are not pregnant and have not had a blood test in the past year.