Experts give verdicts on Tesco's new DIY health checks

[Sly Saint]

Supermarket titan Tesco launched a range of at-home health tests in March – meaning customers can now pick up self-diagnostic kits designed to spot the early-warning signs of serious conditions, including bowel cancer, kidney disease and even the flu, while doing their weekly shop.

Stocked on its website and across more than 500 stores nationwide, the do-it-yourself checks use the same technology that has been behind the Covid rapid tests, called lateral flow devices, which provide quick results for a (relatively) cheap price.

Frederick Manduca, founder of Newfoundland, the firm that makes most of the kits, has hailed the move as a way for patients to arm themselves with 'vital knowledge'.

He has also said that the tests will help to 'alleviate pressure both on the NHS and patients themselves'.

However, doctors have taken to social media to voice their disapproval. Dr Jessica Watson, a GP who is also a medical testing expert at the University of Bristol, took to Twitter to ask: 'Who is going to manage the results?'

Another GP, Dr Dipesh Gopal, said that the tests were 'downright misleading' in what they claimed they could diagnose.

Such is the concern, biostatistician Dr Jon Deeks and his team at the University of Birmingham have now begun an analysis of all the Tesco tests, which is due to be published in a major medical journal next month.

'We want to see what evidence there is behind them, and work out how safe it is for patients to be using them,' he says. But there are also experts who believe more at-home testing could improve the nation's health by catching diseases early, and in doing so, reduce the pressures on the Health Service.

The question is, which of these Tesco tests actually do any good? With the help of leading experts, we put all the DIY kits under the microscope.

Experts give verdicts on Tesco's new DIY health checks (msn.com)

 

[Sean]

One of those ideas that could be good in principle, but in practice is likely to be very messy indeed.

 

[Mithriel]

I have to go see the doctor tomorrow because I have symptoms that could be something serious, but, of course, it could just be the ME.

So everything is negative and that is a good thing but what about next time it happens?

We already have all the symptoms public campaigns say should be checked out, but going to see a GP about it every time means we are more and more likely to be dismissed when it really is something that could be cured if it is found soon enough.
A quick trip to Tesco for a test would be good for us. Especially if they work