NHS MOT health checks are 'useless', experts claim Clare Gerada, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, has backed the calls to end routine checks, claiming that they are "devaluing medicine" and lead to patients being needlessly worried as family doctors waste time on people who are not sick. Public health chiefs have been told to prioritise the scheme, which Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, argues will save hundreds of lives a year. Members of the Copenhagen research centre looked at 14 trials of health check programmes last year and found no consistent evidence that they improved health or reduced death rates, but did find evidence that they could lead to harm. As a result of the study last year, the Danish Government reversed its plan for routine checks. But in a letter to The Times the team accused the NHS of ignoring the results and attempting to stifle debate. Lasse Krogsbøll, one of the authors, noted that although the scheme should be based upon evidence from trials, the screening programme is going ahead despite the fact that there "hasn't been any proven benefit." Dr Krogsbøll said that people have a "preconceived notion that health checks must be a good idea" and argued: "There is a danger of being diagnosed with diseases or risk factors which wouldn't have caused any symptoms in your lifetime." It is the "worried well" who tend to turn up for these checks, the researchers have claimed, meaning money is spent on reassuring them rather than on treating the truly sick. GPs now do health checks on a daily basis, Dr Gerada said, and although they are being sold as "like going for an MOT" where doctors are able to diagnose the problem, doctors can't actually find out what is wrong. "You always find something that you can't explain and then you do more tests," she said. We're constantly having to explain to patients that actually there's nothing wrong. Public Health England recognises that the effectiveness of the scheme has been questioned, but maintained that the "precautionary principle" to risk factors for disease justifies the tests. They say the tests offer a "real opportunity to reduce avoidable deaths and disability, and tackle health inequalities in England."