People in Blackpool have a shorter healthy life expectancy than anywhere else in the UK – UK’s large

Mobile clinics will visit Barking & Dagenham, Hammersmith, Northampton, Sefton and Selby. The programme is also opening clinics in an additional 10 Boots pharmacies: Banbury, Blackpool Bank Hey Street, Burnley, Chester Foregate Street, Colchester, Eastbourne, Knaresborough, Lancaster, Newark Stodman Street, and Norwich.

Our Future Health aims to transform the prevention, detection and treatment of conditions such as dementia, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. With up to five million volunteers right across the UK, the goal is to create one of the most detailed pictures ever of people’s health.  

At their clinic appointment, as well as having a blood sample and some physical measurements taken, volunteers will be offered information about their own health, including their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. In the future, volunteers will also be given the option to receive feedback about their risk of some diseases and have the opportunity to take part in cutting-edge research studies. 

Working in collaboration with the NHS, the programme is sending invitation letters to people who live near the new clinics. Anyone over the age of 18 can join by signing up online, completing an online health questionnaire, and booking a short clinic appointment. 

James Vincent, 37, who joined at our Sheffield clinic in June, said: "I signed up online and booked an appointment – it was easy. It takes just 10 minutes and will benefit others, plus you get some information about your own health. I’m interested in technology, so I’m all for donating my data to be analysed and used for good. With all this data, researchers will be able to find patterns so they can create solutions for diseases in the future."

Dr Raghib Ali OBE, Chief Medical Officer at Our Future Health, said: “Each month we’re rolling out new clinics in high street pharmacies and supermarket car parks to make it more convenient than ever for people to take part in health research. We want to reach all kinds of people, especially those who have never done anything like this before. That way, research based on Our Future Health can benefit every kind of person.”

Photos and videos of the mobile clinics can be downloaded here. 

Our Future Health is rolling out on a region-by-region basis to invite adults across the UK to join the programme. Volunteers who don’t live near a location where Our Future Health appointments are currently available can join now and be notified when new appointment locations become available. 

New locations will be announced on the Our Future Health website and social media channels. 

Our Future Health is an ambitious collaboration between the public sector, life sciences companies and leading UK health charities including: Action Against Age-related Macular Degeneration, Alzheimer’s Society, Asthma + Lung UK, Blood Cancer UK, Breast Cancer Now, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Diabetes UK, Kidney Research UK, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Parkinson’s UK, Prostate Cancer UK, Royal Osteoporosis Society and Stroke Association.