TESTING rates in Darwen for heart disease, diabetes and other life threatening diseases have risen sharply since the coronavirus pandemic, senior councillors have been told.

The good news was delivered to Blackburn with Darwen Council's executive board by health boss Cllr Damian Talbot when it met on Thursday night.

The meeting authorised a tender process for a new contract to deliver the NHS Health Check (NHSHC) testing system and invest an extra £51,000 a year into the drive to tackle high rates of the conditions.

The borough has the 17th highest cardiovascular death rate out of 152 upper-tier authorities in the country.

It also has a diabetes diagnosis rate of 8.8 per cent which is significantly higher than the England average of 7.1 per cent.

The alarming figures were revealed in a council document saying more needs to be done to improve health checks for the potentially fatal conditions.

It said that the number of such reviews fell during the coronavirus pandemic.

The executive board agreed to increase annual spending on the checks from £123,000 to £174,000.

Cllr Talbot told the meeting: "The number of these health checks in Darwen has gone up sharply.

"This is partly due to the work Darwen West's Cllr Brian Taylor has done in the town."

The council's Tory group leader Cllr John Slater welcomed the new contract process and the extra investment saying: "This is very important work for the borough."

The NHSHC programme aims to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), and associated conditions, through early assessment, identification and management of behavioural and physiological risk factors.

The tests are available every five years, free of charge, for people aged 40 to 74 who do not have any pre-existing CVD.