Uptake of NHS Health Checks has only risen by 0.4% compared to last year, Public Health England (PHE) figures show.
In the first data release since responsibility for the programme moved to local authorities in April 2013, it was shown that average uptake for Health Checks was 47.9%.
For the first quarter of 2013/13, the average number of health checks taken up on 47.5%.
A total of 598,876 were offered in the first quarter of 2013/14.
Professor Kevin Fenton, PHE director of Health and Wellbeing said that there is still “much work to do” to increase the number of people taking up NHS Health Checks.
He said: “There is a huge burden of disease associated with conditions that can be avoided by modifying our behaviour and lifestyles and taking early action.
“Publishing information about offers and take up helps local authorities to commission effective programmes and help people locally to see the position in their area.”
Nationally, there are 15,323,148 people aged 40 to 74 who should be offered an NHS Health Check once every 5 years.
The latest available data is available on the NHS Health Check website.
