Free professional health checks available Tuesday 17 December
Pre-Christmas health checks led by health professional students at the University of Huddersfield will take place in Queensgate Market on Tuesday 17 December 10am-4pm
HUNDREDS of local people have already benefitted from free check-ups carried out by healthcare students at the University of Huddersfield. Now, there will be opportunities for shoppers and other members of the public to take advantage of an innovative scheme – closely supervised by expert tutors – that gives early warning of issues such as high blood pressure and sight loss.
The project, which has earned £80,000 in funding from healthcare agencies, is also a boon for the students themselves, in subjects that include nursing, optometry and podiatry. It enables them to develop valuable people skills alongside the specialist expertise gained during their degree studies.
On Tuesday, 17 December, students and their tutors will set up their latest “surgery” in Huddersfield’s Queensgate Market (10am-4pm).
Members of the public are free to drop in for basic checks that will flag up possible health problems in the making. There will be free vision checks plus podiatry screening and advice.
There will also be plentiful leaflets on topics such as healthy eating, weight loss and quitting smoking. Also in attendance will be students studying to become operating department practitioners, who will demonstrate the vital technique of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
There have already been free health check sessions at Mirfield Show and at the University of Huddersfield itself during open days and staff wellbeing events. So far, some 300 people have attended. The event on 17 December will boost the numbers, and from January there will be weekly drop-sessions on campus that the public will be free to attend.
It hoped that participants will act on the advice from students then return for fresh checks and witness improvements in their health.
There are also plans to join forces work with a range of local community organisations for sessions aimed at more vulnerable groups in society.
Supervising the scheme is Professor Barry Tolchard, who heads the University’s Department of Nursing and Midwifery. It was while based in the USA and Australia that he and his late wife Cynthia – a nursing professor – developed sessions where healthcare students used their freshly-acquired knowledge and expertise to carry out check-ups and issue advice.
Professor Tolchard decided to introduce the idea to the UK, and the scheme has been backed by the official body Health Education England and by the SIHED Challenge Fund operated by the Office for Students. A total of £80,000 in funding has been awarded for the 18-month project, and specialist equipment has been purchased for the drop-in sessions.
Students from all of the healthcare disciplines studied at the University of Huddersfield are free to volunteer for the project. They are closely supervised by staff, who step in if necessary.
The sessions are also a boost for the students, said Project Assistant Hannah Sladdin.
“They develop softer skills that you can’t always teach, because of the interaction with real people. Some of our students have fed back that the scheme is really helpful to their confidence.”
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