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Delivering the Heart Health Check brief intervention

Training for health care professionals

Welcome to the Momenta Heart Health Check training for health care professionals. This training module comprises a series of four short video lessons and should take a total of around 30 minutes to complete. You can do this all at once or visit this page at your convenience to complete each part of the training as desired.

Download printable A4 Heart Health Check tool
CVD Training plan for health care professionals

Content overview

  • Part 1 will help you to understand why the Heart Health Check has been designed and how it can help your patients to make lifestyle changes
  • Part 2 will enable you to use the Heart Health Check to raise patients’ awareness of their personal clinical and behavioural risk factors
  • Part 3 will support you to talk with patients about risk in a way that motivates them want to reduce personal risk factors
  • Part 4 will explain how to set goals and targets with patients and refer them to relevant services in a way that increases their likelihood of taking action

Part 1: Introducing the Heart Health Check brief intervention

Part1: Reflect on your learning

Take some time to reflect on the video content and consider:

  • How does the structure of the brief intervention compare with the process you currently use when discussing CVD risk and lifestyle change with patients?
  • How do you think the Heart Health Check tool can fit into your current care pathway or appointment structure?

Part 2: Using the Heart Health Check to assess CVD risk

Take some time to reflect on the video content and consider:

  • What will be the most accurate and convenient way for you to complete the clinical indicator section of the checklist? i.e. from the patient record or by asking the patient questions.
  • What benefits can you identify of introducing the behavioural questions on the checklist in the way recommended in the video?
  • How can you adopt aspects of this in other areas of practice to avoid creating frustration for patients when asking about lifestyle behaviours?
  • Will you use the alcohol unit guide or another tool to help the patient self-assess alcohol consumption? Download the alcohol unit guide
  • How familiar are you with the items from the Scot-PASQ questionnaire? Visit the Health Scotland page to learn more about this tool
  • Will you use the nutrition questions on the form or another tool to help the patient self-assess whether they eat a heart healthy diet?

Part 3: Explaining CVD risk with the Heart Health Check

Take some time to reflect on the video content and consider:

  • What are the benefits of explaining how a risk factor affects heart and circulatory health to a patient?
  • Why is it important to minimise technical terms or jargon when explaining this?
  • How much opportunity do you realistically have to deliver this kind of explanation to patients in your role?
  • What is likely to be the most effective way you can provide a simple explanation or signpost and encourage a patient to view a simple explanation of how their personal risk factors are affecting their heart and circulatory health?

Part 4: Action planning for behaviour change

Take some time to reflect on the video content and consider:

  • How you can best use the action plan form to help patients set goals or signpost patients for support to make lifestyle changes within the time constraints of your role?
  • Which aspects of the form will be relevant to you in your role?
  • Which aspects of the form will you not use?
  • What can you do to increase the likelihood that a patient will take action or access the support services you signpost them to?

Congratulations, you’re now ready to put the Heart Health Check into practice!

If you don’t have time to take patients through the in-person Heart Health Check you can signpost them to the online version.

Take me to the online Heart Health Check

Please let us know what you think

We are keen to hear about how the Heart Health Check is used.  We would really appreciate hearing how you use it or plan to use it and how many patients you think could benefit from it – as well as any feedback for future improvements.

We will not share your details with any third parties and will only write to you to let you know about any updates to the Heart Health Check.

HCP - Training Feedback

Supported by innovation funding from:

Momenta CVD Logo

About Momenta

Discover Momenta is a leading developer of evidence-based, outcome-driven, healthy lifestyle solutions.  We design, deliver, license and continuously improve services to help people negotiate the many day-to-day challenges they face in living healthier lives. Momenta Newcastle delivers Momenta programmes directly for NHS England and councils.  Momenta programmes are also delivered across the UK by many public, private and charitable partner organisations.

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Answer yes if:
  • You have been told by a health care professional that you have high total cholesterol, or high LDL (bad) cholesterol.
  • You are taking medication to lower your cholesterol e.g. statins.

Note: If you’ve taken your own cholesterol using an at home kit and had a high reading this is not a clinical diagnosis and you should answer “Don’t know” to this question.

Your Heart Health Report will give you more information about this risk factor and how you can get it measured.

Answer yes if you:
  • Include vegetables or fruit at every meal
  • Choose fruit for dessert or as a snack
  • Almost always eat wholegrain cereal products like wholegrain bread, wholewheat pasta and brown rice over “white” alternatives
  • Eat fish, beans, lentils, white meat or some dairy foods as your main sources of protein in most meals
  • Eat red or processed meat only occasionally, if at all
  • Reserve sweet treats and sugary drinks for special occasions rather than having them every day
  • Limit foods that are high in salt and don’t add salt to meals
What counts as physically active?

All activity is good activity but some has greater health benefits. This question is asking for how much “moderate” intensity activity you do.

If you’re working at “moderate” intensity , typically:

  • your heart rate increases
  • you feel warmer and may start to sweat
  • you breathe a little faster or harder but are not out of breath
  • you can carry on a conversation, taking a few extra breaths between sentences, but not be able to sing

 

Simply walking more quickly than normal or cycling can achieve this. Other activities like housework, gardening, dancing, exercise and sport can also have the same effect.

Note: If you can’t sing or have to take a breath between words, this can be described as “vigorous” activity. To answer this question, count every 1 minute of vigorous activity as 2 minutes of moderate activity.

Answer yes if: you drink more than 14 units a week

If you’re not sure how much alcohol you drink in a typical week, use our “Alcohol Units” diagram to find out. Think about the type and how many drinks you have over the course of a typical week and use the diagram to calculate your average number of units per week.

If you’re still not sure answer “Don’t Know”

Momenta Alcohol Units Diagram
Answer yes if:
  • You’re of white family origin and your BMI is 25 or above.
  • You’re of Black African, African Caribbean, South Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern and mixed family origin, and your BMI is 23 or above (you have a higher risk of developing some long-term conditions like Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease at a lower BMI ).
Calculate Your BMI

This link will open a new browser window, so you can use the NHS BMI calculator to work out your BMI.

Check Your BMI

This link will open a new browser window, so you can use the British Heart Foundation BMI calculator to work out your BMI.

This browser window will stay open, so you can come back and carry on with your Heart Health Check straight away.

If you’re still not sure what your BMI is, answer “Don’t know”

Answer yes if:
  • You have been told by a health care professional that you have diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2) or pre-diabetes
  • You are taking medication for diabetes e.g. metformin

Note: If you’ve taken your own blood glucose (sugar) using an at home kit and had a high reading this is not a clinical diagnosis of pre-diabetes or diabetes and you should answer “Don’t know” to this question.

Your Heart Health Report will give you more information about this risk factor and how you can get it measured.

Answer yes if:
  • You have been told by a health care professional that you have high total cholesterol, or high LDL (bad) cholesterol.
  • You are taking medication to lower your cholesterol e.g. statins.

Note: If you’ve taken your own cholesterol using an at home kit and had a high reading this is not a clinical diagnosis and you should answer “Don’t know” to this question.

Your Heart Health Report will give you more information about this risk factor and how you can get it measured.

Answer yes if:
  • You’ve been told by a health care professional that you have high blood pressure (hypertension)
  • You take medication for high blood pressure (hypertension)

Note: If you’ve taken your own blood pressure at home without support from your GP surgery and had a high reading this is not a diagnosis of high blood pressure, which can only be done by a health care professional. You should answer “Don’t know” to this question.

Your Heart Health Report will give you more information about this risk factor and how you can get it measured.