By: Kitty Graham-Scott, PR and Social Media Officer at Our Future Health
The UK’s largest health research programme is opening new mobile clinics which will travel across Scotland over the next six monthsto enable people to take part.
One of Our Future Health’s mobile clinics
Like the rest of the UK, Scotland faces an increasing burden of disease. It’s estimated that cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, cause 28% of all deaths in Scotland – or 50 Scots dying each day. Health research is what powers new discoveries about diseases like these, which is why Our Future Health is calling for more people in Scotland to represent their community in health research, as this will lead to new discoveries about diseases and better health outcomes for Scottish people.
Our Future Health is the UK’s largest health research programme, which aims to transform the prevention, detection and treatment of diseases. With up to 5 million participants right across the UK, the goal is to create one of the most detailed pictures ever of people’s health. Over 2.7 million people across the UK have already signed up, including 103,000 people in Scotland, and Our Future Health is launching three new mobile clinics which will enable even more Scottish people to have their appointment.
At their clinic appointment, as well as giving a blood sample and having some physical measurements taken, participants will be offered information about their own health, including their blood pressure. This video includes more information about what happens at the clinic appointment. The appointment lasts 15-20 minutes and will be conducted by a trained member of staff.
As part of signing up, people will consent to Our Future Health linking to their medical records and will also complete a health and lifestyle questionnaire. In the future, participants will also be given the option to receive feedback about their risk of some diseases and have the opportunity to take part in cutting-edge research studies.
The new mobile clinics will visit cities and rural areas of Scotland over the next six months, to raise awareness of the programme and include people who may not have had the opportunity to have an Our Future Health clinic appointment. Once people have signed up to the programme online, they can book a clinic appointment in advance.
The clinics are visiting locations including:
Our Future Health is planning more locations across Scotland, and further information about these locations will be added to this map: Our Future Health – Google My Maps
Anyone over the age of 18 living in Scotland can take part in Our Future Health. The programme is aiming to reach people who have been under-represented in health research in the past, including people under 30 years old and people from more deprived backgrounds. For this reason, we encourage everyone to share this blog with their networks and raise awareness of Our Future Health within their communities.
The inside of a mobile clinic
The mobile clinics will visit convenient locations like supermarket car parks, where health research programmes haven’t had a presence before. These locations make it easier for people to take part in Our Future Health as part of their daily routine, especially people who have never taken part in something like this before.
Even for people who don’t live near one of the new clinic locations, they can still sign up to Our Future Health online and complete the questionnaire, because this provides researchers with useful information that they can study to better understand health in Scotland. Research is already underway and Our Future Health recently revealed new findings from participant questionnaire data which shows that 60–69-year-olds are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than 18–29-year-olds.
Discoveries like these are only possible with the help of people taking part. This is why Our Future Health is encouraging more Scottish people to get involved, so researchers have the data they need to make discoveries about health in Scotland and help everyone live longer, healthier lives.
