"Health checks are not comparable to buying toothpaste, hair dye or vitamins, but part of the ongoing continuity of care, the long-term engagement, that general practice delivers." The warnings come amid a flurry of advertising by chemists of their in-store services, including Amcal's "Nine-Point Heart Health Check" targeting men and Priceline's "Women's Health Check", which for non-members costs $20. Sigma-owned Amcal pharmacy chain made headlines last year for allowing a group called Strokecheck to target its customers with risk assessments and ultrasound services. Vascular surgeons warned the tests would do more harm than good, and Amcal cut the group loose.

Dr Loy said while there were no immediate dangers for participants, they must consider the long-term risks. "If you’re asking if there is a long-term danger for somebody not being across their healthcare needs and not having a GP reviewing them regularly and understanding their health needs over time, then yes, there are dangers," he said. Priceline offers Women's Health Checks for $20. Credit:Screenshot "These pharmacies are motivated by money, the opportunity to have more people in the store to buy other things." He said it was misleading for pharmacies to refer to GPs in their advertising material for health checks as it suggested they worked closely together.

"I've had patients who have done health checks somewhere else and and they've been left confused by the results because they don't make a lot of sense, they haven't been contextualised," he said. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' Victoria chair Dr Cameron Loy. Credit:Twitter/cameronsloy "You've got to remember that pharmacies may do things differently – tests for cholesterol without fasting, height and weight without any context – and the question is whether they are producing good health outcomes." An Amcal spokesman dismissed the concerns, saying their pharmacists wanted to "help empower" patients, identify those at risk and encourage them to "re-engage" with their GP. He said it was plugging a gap because many Australians were avoiding their GP because of costs and time constraints.

Amcal said their new "Heart Health Check" was developed in-house and had no links with the now-defunct Strokecheck group. "It is not our agenda to sell products to those who participate in these screenings and we do not encourage our network of experienced pharmacists to utilise these health checks as an opportunity to sell products," he said. Loading A Priceline spokeswoman said the college's disapproval was a "shame" as its pharmacists were qualified professionals trained to provide medical advice. Its 15-minute women's health check involves a cholesterol test, breast check instruction, blood pressure reading and anaemia screening. In April it said it would make them free for one month in the hope of reaching 50,000 women in that time.

"These health checks are simply formalising the service and advice provided by pharmacists to their patients every day," she said. "Priceline pharmacists are continually referring patients to their GPs ... and provide a valuable service in their local communities by offering a triage process, rather than a diagnosis, through screening patients, offering expert advice and often referring to a GP." A representative of TerryWhite Chemmart, which spruiks a wide range of health checks including for blood pressure and diabetes, said it "couldn't obtain the information requested".