At The Muswell Hill Practice, we are committed to helping you manage your long-term health conditions effectively. Regular check-ups are an important part of this process. This leaflet provides an overview of what to expect during your long-term conditions check and explains the different tests that may be conducted.

What to expect during your check

Our healthcare assistant or nurse will:

1. Review Your Lifestyle Habits: Ask questions about your diet and physical activity levels, smoking status and alcohol intake.
2. Measure Vital Signs: Check your blood pressure, heart rate and weight.
3. Conduct Blood Tests: Blood tests are an essential part of monitoring your condition. They help us understand how your body is functioning and guide your treatment plan.
4. Arrange a Urine Test: Ask you to return a urine sample if you have diabetes or chronic kidney disease (CKD). This checks whether you have any leakage of protein in your urine, which is an important marker of kidney health. You should ideally provide us with the first urine specimen of the day.
5. Conduct a Foot Check: If you have diabetes, this will be done once a year to monitor your foot health. This helps to identify early signs of skin, circulation and/or nerve problems.

Standard blood tests

1. Liver Function Tests:
   • Assess how well your liver is working.
2. Kidney Function Tests:
   • Evaluate how well your kidneys are filtering waste from your blood.
3. Lipid Profile:
   • Measures your cholesterol, which helps assess your risk of heart disease.
4. HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin):
   • This provides an average blood sugar level over the past 2-3 months.

Other blood tests that may be performed

Full Blood Count: Measures different components of your blood, such as red and white blood cells and platelets. This is usually checked if you are on certain medication such as blood thinners. We may also check this if you have diabetes or fatty liver disease.

Vitamin B12 and folate: This is checked annually if you have diabetes and are taking a medication called metformin, which can cause low B12 levels in some people. A folate (vitamin B9) level is routinely done whenever B12 levels are checked. Note that if you are already on B12 injections regularly, monitoring your levels are unhelpful – they do not give any information about how effective the treatment is.

Thyroid Function Tests: We may check this if you have a thyroid disorder or have a condition that increases the risk of developing thyroid problems, such as diabetes.

Can I ask for other blood tests during my long-term conditions check?

Generally our nurse or healthcare assistant are not able to request additional blood tests without prior authorisation from the GP. You should therefore book a separate GP appointment in advance if you wish to discuss the possibility of having other tests done.

This includes PSA (prostate specific antigen) and vitamin D levels.

After Your Check

Once your tests are complete, the results will be reviewed by your GP. We will contact you to discuss any necessary changes to your treatment plan or follow-up appointments.

We also encourage you to download the NHS app to access your health record and see your test results online: https://themuswellhillpractice.co.uk/nhs-app-and-online-access