Walk-in Clinic, a private health screening provider, has released new figures showing a 48% year-on-year increase in new customers for private health screenings.
With 2 million new users of private healthcare since 2021, this aligns with the trend of people choosing to go private. However, it also signals a trend of people opting for private preventative healthcare specifically.
Supporting this trend, Walk-in Clinic has also seen over 7,000 people in the last year as part of their self-referral blood testing programme. This programme allows individuals to book themselves in for blood tests at their clinics without a GP referral, monitoring various aspects of their health, from iron and vitamin D levels to diabetes status and cholesterol levels.
Dr Enam Abood, founder and lead doctor at Walk-in Clinic, commented: “This shows a growing understanding in the population of the importance of preventative healthcare. Thanks to more available information online especially, people are opting to prevent disease through routine testing and health screening, which makes me as a doctor very happy.”
CEO Alya Shakir commented: “This is a significant increase but we are not surprised by it. Post-pandemic, we have seen a new wave of health-conscious individuals wanting to take control of their health and this is unlikely to change. Our health screenings, in addition to extensive testing, provide 90 minutes with a GP. We find most people come with a few symptoms and issues they just have not been able to see their GP about or get what they need from their usual GP.”
First-time users may be surprised at the affordability of private health screening and blood testing. For example, Walk-in Clinic’s silver blood profile, which provides a full blood count, liver function, kidney function, a cholesterol profile, iron profile and more, costs just £59.
Dr Enam Abood added: “I am enjoying seeing people take control of their health through preventative medicine. So many serious diseases don’t show symptoms until they are advanced and difficult to treat or reverse. Routine health screening and testing is one of the most effective ways to prevent future illness.”
