We are pleased to hear that following an evaluation, the Wellpoint Kiosks, which were funded by the ICS Transformation funding via the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Prevention group, have performed extremely well across the subregion since September 2022, engaging 13,000 users and carrying out 15,000 tests, and 83% of users who engaged in feedback also reported that they were ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to modify their lifestyle following their results.
Informed by local public health teams, the eight self-serve Wellpoint Kiosks were placed in a wide range of community locations across areas of Cheshire and Merseyside with high levels of deprivation. Locations included leisure, retail and workplace settings, such as bus depots, in order to increase access to blood pressure testing in local priority populations.
The kiosks have been freely available to the public to measure blood pressure (BP), weight, body mass index (BMI) and other metrics. The kiosks also provide an estimate of risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke in the next 10 years.
Dr Sarah McNulty, Director of Public Health in Knowsley and DPH Lead for Screening and Immunisations, Diabetes and High Blood Pressure, said:
“I am extremely pleased to see the results from the Cheshire and Merseyside Wellpoint Kiosk evaluation. The evaluation clearly shows positive engagement from the public, including our target communities such as working age males and those living in areas with high levels of deprivation, who are on average less likely to access CVD prevention services, but more likely to suffer with poorly controlled high blood pressure and early death from heart attack or stroke.
“The kiosks play an important role in raising awareness about high blood pressure across Cheshire and Merseyside, and I believe they’re making a real difference to the users across the subregion.”
The ICS CVD prevention group will now consider the findings to inform future kiosk use as part of the ‘Advancing CVD Prevention Strategy’.
The Collaborative would also like to thank system partners who have been raising awareness during May Measurement Month about high blood pressure through local and national campaigns and encourage partners to continue to promote these new national resources throughout the year.
National resources can be downloaded here.
Read the full case study evaluation here