If you’re supporting an ageing parent or loved one, there’s a good chance you spend a lot of time monitoring someone else’s wellbeing.
You notice changes in mood or mobility. You keep track of appointments, medication, finances, and what might be coming next. Much of this happens automatically, without pause or recognition.
What rarely gets the same attention is your own health.
Not because it doesn’t matter, but because it feels easier to put to one side. There is always something more urgent. Something that belongs to someone else.
February is Heart Month. With Valentine’s Day approaching, it can be a useful moment to widen the lens. Not just to think about romantic love or family bonds, but about the physical impact of caring itself, and what it means for the person doing the caring.
The physical cost of caring long-term
Supporting a loved one places the body under pressure that doesn’t really switch off. Even when nothing dramatic is happening, the combination of worry, broken sleep, emotional labour and constant decision-making adds up.
Over time, this kind of ongoing stress can affect heart health. It’s linked to higher blood pressure, raised cholesterol, weight changes and inflammation, all of which can increase the risk of heart disease.
For many carents, these changes can be easy to miss. There is rarely a clear moment when things tip from manageable to concerning. Health shifts in the background when attention is fixed elsewhere.
As a result, carents are often late to notice when their own health needs checking.
A heart health check that fits around caring responsibilities
That is why Carents has partnered with Pharmacy2U on the Healthy Hearts programme, which offers a free at-home heart health check.
The programme allows you to:
-
Check your cholesterol levels at home
-
Receive a 10-year heart health risk estimate
-
See a personalised heart health age
The test is completed at home using a simple kit, with step-by-step guidance through an app. Results are available within minutes, with the option of a free pharmacist appointment if you want to talk them through.
There is no need to book a GP appointment or sit in a waiting room, which makes this far more accessible when you are juggling caring responsibilities.
How the Healthy Heart Check works
-
Sign up online
Register for the Pharmacy2U Healthy Hearts programme online. It takes just a few minutes. -
Receive your free at-home test kit
A Healthy Heart Check kit is sent to you by post, free of charge. -
Download the app and answer a short questionnaire
Download the PocDoc app and complete a brief heart health questionnaire to provide some background information. -
Complete the finger-prick blood test at home
The app guides you step by step through a simple finger-prick blood test, which measures key cholesterol markers. -
View your results
After a short wait, you use the app to photograph the test. Your results are analysed and displayed in the app, including your cholesterol levels, a 10-year cardiovascular risk estimate, and your personalised heart health age. -
Choose whether to speak to a pharmacist
If you want to talk through your results, you can book a free optional appointment with a Pharmacy2U pharmacist. -
Receive ongoing heart health advice
You will also have access to an optional eight-week programme of tailored heart health advice sent by email.
How accurate is the Healthy Heart Check?
The Healthy Heart Check is designed as a screening tool to help spot potential heart health risks early, rather than as a replacement for GP-led blood tests. The programme uses NHS-aligned risk scoring, including the QRISK®3 model, which is widely used in the NHS to estimate 10-year cardiovascular risk. In the national study behind the programme, the test identified similar levels of high cardiovascular risk to traditional NHS Health Checks, and anyone flagged as higher risk was advised to follow up with their GP. Results are also supported by optional pharmacist consultations, helping ensure people understand what their results mean and what to do next.
Why looking after your heart helps everyone
Looking after your heart is not about taking attention away from the person you care for. It is about protecting your ability to continue.
Caring is often a long journey, not a short phase. The more supported and informed you are about your own health, the more sustainable that journey becomes.
This Heart Month, consider including yourself in the picture. Not as an afterthought, but as someone whose health is worth paying attention to now, not later.
You can find out more about the free Pharmacy2U Healthy Hearts programme and claim your at-home check here:
