General practice health checks of elderly people: a county-wide survey

All general practices in Nottinghamshire were sent a questionnaire to examine the organisation and structure of their annual health checks for elderly people. The results indicated that 99% of responding practices offered checks, yet nearly one quarter estimated that under 50% of their elderly population actually had a check. Many practices had no system for following up old people who did not respond to an invitation for a check. Practices with smaller numbers of elderly people were more likely to estimate high response rates to invitations for a check and more likely to follow-up those who did not respond. The findings are discussed in relation to the reasons why many elderly people do not receive their annual health check.