What the NHS offers you by age — and what you have to ask for

Some health checks arrive in the post whether you want them or not. Others exist, are free, and will never be mentioned unless you raise them.

Knowing which is which is worth ten minutes, because the second category is where most people lose ground.

What comes to you automatically

These are national population screening programmes. You are invited; you do not have to ask.

NHS Health Check — ages 40 to 74, every five years. Cardiovascular risk assessment: blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, lifestyle, and diabetes risk. Offered to people not already diagnosed with the relevant conditions. This is the one most relevant to everything else on this site, and uptake is poor — plenty of people receive the invitation and do not book.

Cervical screening — ages 25 to 64. Every three years from 25 to 49, then every five years from 50 to 64. Offered to women and people with a cervix.

Breast screening — from around 50 to 70 or 71, every three years. Some areas invite from 47. Women over the upper age limit can self-refer rather than waiting for an invitation, which is not widely known.

Bowel cancer screening — every two years. A home test kit (FIT) posted to you. The age range has been expanding: historically 60 to 74, now extended down towards 50 in a phased rollout, so the starting age depends on where and when you are. Over 75, you can request a kit by calling the free helpline on 0800 707 60 60.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening — men, at 65. A one-off ultrasound scan. Quick, painless, and research suggests it can halve the risk of dying from an AAA.

Diabetic eye screening — annually from age 12 for everyone with diabetes.

Targeted lung health check — ages 55 to 74 for people who have ever smoked, where the programme has rolled out. Lung cancer causes more UK deaths than any other cancer and is usually symptomless early.

Ages and intervals vary between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and they change over time. Your invitation letter is the definitive source, not this article.

What you have to ask for

Nothing here is exotic or private-only. It simply is not part of any automatic programme.

A hearing test. Hearing loss is the largest single modifiable contributor to dementia risk on the Lancet Commission’s list, at 7% of population attributable risk. There is no national hearing screening programme for adults. Ask your GP for an audiology referral.

An eye test. Untreated vision loss was added to the same dementia risk list in 2024. Optician eye tests also detect glaucoma and signs of diabetes and hypertension. Free on the NHS for over-60s and several other groups. Every two years is the standard recommendation.

Blood pressure between Health Checks. Five years is a long gap in your fifties and sixties. Free checks are available at most pharmacies, and home monitoring is the more informative option.

ApoB, or lipoprotein(a). Not routine, but reasonable to discuss — particularly with raised triglycerides, type 2 diabetes, or unexplained early heart disease in the family. Lp(a) is worth measuring once in a lifetime.

A bone density scan (DEXA), if you have risk factors for osteoporosis — early menopause, long-term steroids, a family history, or a fracture from a minor fall. There is no population screening programme; it is done on referral.

A conversation about family history. If a first-degree relative had heart disease before 55 in men or 65 in women, or if there is a pattern of a particular cancer, that changes what surveillance is appropriate for you. Nothing in the automatic system knows this. You have to say it.

Two things worth understanding about screening

An abnormal result is not a diagnosis. Screening is deliberately designed to catch more than it should, because missing a case is worse than an unnecessary follow-up. Most recalls turn out to be nothing. Being called back is common and is not information about your prognosis.

Screening is not the same as investigating a symptom. If you have symptoms, do not wait for a screening invitation, and do not be reassured by a recent normal screening result. Bowel screening guidance says this explicitly: see a GP about symptoms at any age, even if you have just completed a test kit.

The private testing question

Full-body scans, comprehensive blood panels and consumer health checks are marketed heavily to exactly the audience reading this.

The honest position: some of it is useful, much of it is not, and the harms are real but invisible. Broad panels generate incidental findings — abnormalities that would never have caused a problem — which then require investigation, sometimes invasive, with their own risks. This is why national programmes are restricted to tests where a formal review concluded the benefits outweigh the harms in a defined population.

If you are going to spend money, one well-chosen test discussed with a doctor beats a subscription panel of forty markers you cannot interpret.

The practical version

Attend what you are invited to. Uptake is the whole game — screening only works if you go, and a substantial proportion of invitations are not taken up.

Then, some time in your forties, book one appointment and cover the asked-for list: hearing, eyes, blood pressure, family history, and any lipid question that applies to you.

That single conversation covers several of the largest modifiable risk factors identified in the dementia and cardiovascular literature, costs nothing, and is not going to happen unless you initiate it.

Most of what determines the last decades of your life is decided quietly, decades earlier, in the absence of symptoms. Screening is one of the few systems designed to interrupt that — and half of it only works if you ask.

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This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Screening ages and intervals change and differ across the UK nations — your invitation letter and your GP are the authoritative sources.

Sources

1. NHS national population screening programmes overview. https://watershipdownhealth.com/services/health-and-screening-information/
2. UK health screenings by age: what the NHS offers and when. https://curatehealth.co.uk/health-hub/general-health/uk-health-screenings-by-age
3. NHS Health Check: eligibility and five-yearly interval. https://www.hulljsna.com/adults/prevention-adults/screening-and-nhs-health-check/
4. Bowel, breast and cervical screening: NHS programme details. https://baldocksurgery.nhs.uk/services/bowel-breast-and-cervical-screening/
5. National health screening programmes, including targeted lung health checks. https://northkensingtonmedicalcentre.nhs.uk/national-health-screening-programmes
6. Livingston G, et al. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission. The Lancet, 2024.