Boundaries for Life and sponsors, Simplyhealth Professionals, are celebrating their most successful season of health checks this summer, helped by the introduction of new diagnostic software.
Founded in 2010 by Dr Chet Trivedy, a dual-qualified dentist and doctor, Boundaries for Life offers free health checks at major cricket fixtures throughout the UK.
Checking signs and risks: from mouth cancer to heart age and obesity
Made possible through a team of volunteer health professionals, the spectators and ground staff are checked for signs and risks of health issues, including mouth cancer, blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, heart age, and obesity.
Commenting on this year’s success, which ran between April and September at high-profile cricket venues including Lord’s, Edgbaston, Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl to name a few, Chet Trivedy said: ‘it has been a fantastic year with the team conducting more than 250 checks and raising awareness of good general health and oral health with a huge audience.
‘It was a particularly exciting season, as this was the first year that we conducted heart age checks in addition to our regular checks.
‘This provides users with an opportunity to know how old their heart is medically, compared to their actual age.
‘Many people were shocked that their heart was a lot older than they thought it was.
‘As we were using a software system to calculate the heart ages – provided by Health Diagnostics – every user had the opportunity to understand how they could reduce their heart age.
‘This was not possible in previous years as the health checks were not automated.’
As well as a detailed medical check from a health care professional, users also benefit from a mouth cancer check from a dentist – many of whom were volunteers from Simplyhealth Professionals’ network of member dentists.
At the end of the checks, each user is given a five-page health report and access to an online interactive dashboard.
Henry Clover, Chief Dental Officer at Simplyhealth Professionals, said: ‘supporting Boundaries for Life is a great opportunity to champion a very important cause, as well as to highlight Simplyhealth’s approach to preventive wellbeing.
‘We’re delighted and very grateful that many of our member dentists volunteered their valuable time to assist with mouth cancer checks.
Help patients understand the links between general and oral health
‘The health checks offer the chance to identify people who might be at risk of future health problems at an early stage, particularly those who might not be regularly visiting a dentist or GP.
Importantly, the health checks help users to understand the links between general and oral health.
It encourages them to reassess lifestyle choices such as alcohol consumption, smoking and diet, which could potentially contribute to issues such as mouth cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.’
Not only does Boundaries for Life provide the means to help users to understand their current and future health, the initiative also has the additional benefit of collating valuable insights into the nation’s health.
Data insights discovered that 34% of users were obese, 42% had a raised BMI, and 70% had a waist measurement that is considered to be medium or high risk for diabetes.
Shockingly, almost half of users (48%) were at an increased risk of developing diabetes according to the Diabetes UK risk scoring system.
Furthermore, one in four users had raised blood pressure, and 40% had raised cholesterol.
As a result of their health check, nearly 50 users were referred to see a GP, dentist or other health professional for further advice or treatment – potentially saving lives.
Chet explained: ‘we’re proud to have helped so many people, but these figures highlight that there is still a lot of work to do.
‘We’re keen to keep building on our success and provide an ever-broader range of checks at next season’s cricket fixtures.
The checks are only possible due to our fantastic team of volunteers, including Simplyhealth Professionals member dentists.
‘They have all promised to do more next year and that is the best endorsement we can get.’
For more information, visit www.boundariesforlife.co.uk.
