When my partner and I had blood tests in Denver, her cholesterol test didn’t come out. She said fine – she’d get the doctor to do one. After all, her mother had just had a stroke which was good enough resason to ask the doctor for a test.

She hadn’t been to the doctor for years, so it should be a formality.

Not. Talk about the third degree! That surgery just did not want to help with a blood test at all.

She got one – but only because she is a feisty woman and stuck at it. You could see how many people would be put off by the response of the receptionist.

Surely a cholesterol test once in your life should be straightforward to get on the NHS? If you don’t know you’ve got high cholesterol and that leads to artery disease you’re going to be much more expensive than a blood test.

At a minimum, we should all be having cholesterol, homocysteine and c-reactive protein measured every one or two years.