WORKERS at Oxford's Mini plant are set to get their own 'road test' with a series of health checks.

The free five-minute assessments will take place at the Cowley plant over five days later this month and identify the early signs of stroke, kidney and heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and dementia.

Oxford Mail:

One worker keen to sign up is Jason Field, who has worked at the plant for the past 31 years.

The 47-year-old is among those who health experts are particularly keen to target.

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Analysis of data collected in Oxfordshire shows a shortfall in men aged between 40 and 55 signing up for a health check, as well as those from ethnic minority groups.

The telecoms manager admitted he’d contacted his doctor’s surgery asking about a health check but never followed it through.

He’d previously kept fit managing his son’s football team but when that came to an end he allowed his exercise levels to drop.

He said: “When I stopped doing the football I had two to three years of doing very little. I wasn’t playing any sport and could sense I was putting weight on.

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“I just got to a point where I knew I was in that age group which was more at risk. I had to do something so I decided to take up running and started in February 2015."

Mr Field said he went out planning to run for half an hour but after 10 minutes was walking home 'red in the face', adding: "I obviously needed to slowly build it up so over the next few months I just extended the distance and tried to pick the speed up a little bit."

After that he signed up for the Chalgrove 10k that May and the Oxford Half Marathon in the October, saying he hadn't looked back since.

He said: “Even just talking about the NHS Health Checks is enough to make me want to go and get it done. I’ll be encouraging my colleagues at the plant to do the same.”

Oxford Mail:

Health checks, which last 20 minutes and include a blood test, are available to anyone aged between 40 and 74 who has not already been diagnosed with an existing cardiovascular condition.

Blood pressure is taken and body mass index (BMI) calculated as part of the assessment.

The shorter checks at the Cowley plant will take about five minutes and include everything except a blood test.

Every Mini Plant worker will be given a traffic light warning grade. Red for danger – meaning a visit to your GP in the near future is strongly advised – amber for caution and green for low risk.

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Lawrie Stratford, Cabinet member for Public Health at Oxfordshire County Council which is funding the checks, said: “Health checks are a brilliant way for people to get an overview of their general health and a fast, effective method of finding out if there are some simple things they could be doing to improve their long-term health and wellbeing.

The importance of NHS health checks should not be under-estimated and we welcome the support of Mini Plant Oxford in helping us to reach out to more people.These free mini checks are a great way of raising the profile about full NHS Health Checks."

For more visit oxfordshire.gov.uk/nhshealthcheck.