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Digital diagnostics provider PocDoc and The Brooke Surgery in Hyde launch week-long screening initiative to accelerate early CVD detection
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The region faces the highest CVD death rate in England, with more than 5,500 lives lost each year.
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Digital health checks and same-day clinical follow-ups to identify at-risk patients will be delivered via PocDoc’s Neighbourhood Testing Bus
MANCHESTER, March 2026: PocDoc, the UK’s leading digital health diagnostics company, has partnered with The Brooke Surgery to deliver a mass cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening initiative for thousands of patients across Greater Manchester.
Greater Manchester experiences the highest death rate from CVD in England – more than twice the national average – costing the local NHS system an estimated £2.5bn each year.
The Hyde-based GP surgery will host PocDoc’s Neighbourhood Testing Bus from 2 to 9 March, aiming to accelerate early detection and help reduce the 5,500 CVD-related deaths recorded in the region annually. The partnership is aiming to screen 1000 patients over a seven day period.
For those identified as being at higher risk, a nurse-led clinical team, supported by pharmacists and doctors, will arrange same-day follow-up appointments, creating a one-stop shop for screening and immediate clinical care, including further tests, vaccinations and general health advice. The service will also operate over the weekend, widening access and enabling patients who may struggle to attend weekday appointments to take part.
Patients visiting the surgery during the seven-day window will be screened using PocDoc’s flagship Healthy Heart Check. The mobile phone-based, finger-prick test delivers a full cholesterol profile, BMI score, heart age and a ten-year cardiovascular risk assessment within minutes, and is the first product of its kind to integrate results immediately back into the patient’s electronic health record (EPR), from any location.
The potential impact of PocDoc’s technology is significant. NHS research shows that every digital health check can save up to 20 minutes of GP time4, while early detection could prevent up to 80% of CVD cases – equivalent to an estimated 136,000 lives saved across the UK each year.
The partnership also directly supports the Government’s 10-year Health Plan and aligns with recent changes to the GP contract that incentivise GPs to promote preventative screening for CVD.
Steve Roest, Co-founder and CEO of PocDoc, said: “Greater Manchester is already an economic growth hotspot – now we want to make it a CVD screening hotspot. The Brooke Surgery is showing real leadership by bringing preventative healthcare directly into the community, and we’re proud to support their initiative with the tools they need to test at scale.
“Identifying risk earlier and connecting digital testing with immediate clinical support is crucial to preventing heart attacks and strokes and, through this partnership, we can help reduce avoidable deaths and ease the mounting pressure that CVD is placing on the NHS.”
Nabeel Arshad, GP partner at The Brooke Surgery, said: “Too often, patients put off booking a health check because life gets in the way. Yet in Greater Manchester, where cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of early death and rates of obesity, smoking and diabetes are high, early detection is vital.
“By bringing PocDoc’s Neighbourhood Testing Bus directly to our community, we’re removing barriers and making it simpler for people to understand their risk and take proactive steps to protect their heart health.”
