CS Healthcare has revealed that 50% of public sector workers had a BMI regarded as ‘high' comparing favourably with national population averages of 62%.
The mutual insurer protects Civil Service and public sector workers and conducted 4,000 health checks of such employees over the past 2 years.
The results for men with a high ‘BFC' were in line with the national average, but the women's results were some 15% below the national average.
Everyone who completes one of CS Healthcare's health checks, which are administered in the workplace, receives a mini report detailing their blood pressure, heart rate, Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Fat Content (BFC) and hydration levels.
Yemisi Siwoku, human resources manager for the Department for Culture, Media & Sport the said the health check programme demonstrated the Department's commitment to staff wellbeing, with no cost implication.
She said: "Working in partnership with CS Healthcare, we've been able to maintain our commitment to raising awareness of the need to live a healthier lifestyle and offer practical information as to how that can be achieved."
Russell Stephens, director of marketing, distribution and membership services at CS Healthcare is keen to stress. "In the early stages, for the most part, the experience covered hydration measures and basic information on health; however we now have a fully functional health kiosk which makes taking the various heart and weight measurements simple and straight forward.
"Feedback from those attending the events over the course of the last 24 months has been terrific and really useful when considering ways in which we might extend the range of assessments.
"One of the big benefits we have observed during the process is that people have become highly engaged and better informed about their health and the measures they can use to keep an eye on it over time - and we will be looking to see how we can develop the service in the months ahead as we continue to roll out the programme of visits."
