Work health checks - do the purposely try to find something?

[HoneyButterPopcorn]

DH went for a general checkup and the doctor advised him to book not one but two 'specialists'. One for heart ('I don't like the sound of that - but you can keep running') and one prostate ('usual checks can't spot cancer so you'd better get that checked').

I'm up the wall with worry (appointments in the next couple of weeks).

Do they usually just err on the side of caution or are they trying to encourage you to get your work healthcare to pay for expensive follow up sessions?

I know no one knows the answer - but has anyone else trotted in merrily for a checkup and crawled out on their last legs?

If this an occupational health check up or private healthcare included in the job?

With all kindness, I think this is some health anxiety surfacing here. If your DH has no symptoms then it's extremely unlikely he has anything seriously cardiac going on. However, it's very normal for general health "MOT's" to pick up slight abnormalities on an ECG, and it's well worth getting these checked out before they become something more serious. This is preventative medicine at its finest - it doesn't mean he's at critical risk - in fact it's unlikely as if they had spotted something critical, he'd be on his way to A&E.

The prostate is also routine for men of a certain age or with certain mild symptoms. Again it doesn't mean he has cancer, it's just that the general checkup has found something that would benefit from further investigation.

It's private healthcare with his work. The doctor said he didn't like the sound of the heart - but how the hell can you get to your 50s with a heart defect (the doctor suggested a few potential causes) and noone spot it? Christonnabike.

My mum got to 80 before anyone noticed that she had an abnormal rhythm. It wasn't a heart defect, but just sometimes her heart wasn't beating properly. It wasn't detected earlier as she didn't have screening and didn't have any problems. It was only once it started to cause her health issues that an ECG was done and it was detected. Now she's had minor surgery to correct it and is recovering well.

So it really is unlikely to be anything concerned about it if he has no symptoms. But it is far better it is investigated before it causes symptoms and he can received any treatment he needs to address it, as he will recover far more quickly if treatment happens before he is symptomatic.

In my experience yes it's common to come away with a referral for something that's 99% likely to be completely fine. It's the benefit of private health cover, you can get something checked out that's nowhere near the threshold for the NHS to investigate.

I have been sent to a consultant for a 'just in case' diagnostic test for something I vaguely met the criteria for and ended up with thousands of pounds of testing just to cover all the bases.

Rarely something to be worried about and a really useful benefit if you do have something you're concerned about.

Thanks all - I'm just so worried. Both my parents died 'out of the blue' so I do worry I guess...

Yes @RaiseitM it was covered by insurance provided by my employer. Same for the OP I assume.

The private GPs that carry out the medicals and write the referrals know what usually gets approved by the insurance companies.

The NHS errs on the side of 'nothing is wrong' in 99 percent of cases. There is very little preventative medicine in this country and even if you show them recommendations for further check-ups from specialists when you lived abroad, they can still be reluctant to actually investigate anything, rather than blithely assure you that it's fine. It often is going to be benign and fine, but this should be concluded on some investigation and evidence, not just on the statistical probability that it's not anything serious. Even if you have private medical insurance in the UK, the process is still very cumbersome compared to the easy access to specialists privately in many European countries.

Your DH is probably going fine without anything seriously going wrong with him. There might be some early signs of concerns. There might well be nothing more to be concerned about after further investigation is made. It's still good that he's been advised to have more tests done. There's no reason to be so worried about it. It is far better than the blasé 'everything is fine' when possibly it is not quite.

@HoneyButterPopcorn reframe it as a good thing, it's great that he has this private cover and can get testing and treatment if needed. Better to know and be able to deal with it. And more likely than not to show nothing.

No @RaiseitM I said that private medicine will investigate symptoms that do not meet the criteria for investigation on the NHS.

We do it as part of our wellbeing offering to all staff - it’s meant to be helpful and a positive thing!

With modern medicine being as advanced as it is, certainly it is better to be safer than sorry and although I appreciate how dreadful a heart and c prostate conditions are prevention is better than cure.