Routine Medical Check-Ups for Healthy Adults

The question

How to approach this discuss both views question

A discuss-both-views essay asks you to explain two opinions fairly and then give your own.

1. Introduce both views and say you will discuss them.
2. Paragraph 1: the first view with reasons and an example.
3. Paragraph 2: the second view with reasons and an example.
4. State your own opinion clearly (in the introduction or conclusion) and keep it consistent.

How to plan this answer

Structure

1. Introduction: paraphrase the debate about routine check-ups and state your opinion that check-ups are valuable when they are targeted by risk.
2. Body 1: the argument against, covering limited resources, false alarms, unnecessary anxiety and the cost of treating people who may never become ill.
3. Body 2: the argument for, covering silent conditions such as high blood pressure and the benefit of finding cancers at an early stage.
4. Body 3: evaluate by explaining why targeted screening, based on age, family history or lifestyle, combines both views.
5. Conclusion: restate your opinion and emphasise that the best use of resources depends on who is screened and for what.

Idea bank

• High blood pressure often has no symptoms, so a routine check can detect it before a heart attack or stroke.
• Screening programmes for bowel or cervical cancer that invite people at set ages, showing the value of structured checks.
• Overdiagnosis: some screening finds slow-growing conditions that would never cause harm, leading to unnecessary treatment.
• Counter-argument: money spent on healthy people could shorten waiting lists for patients already in pain or receiving urgent treatment.
• A person with a family history of heart disease who benefits from a check that a healthy young person without risk factors may not need.

Useful vocabulary

• to detect at an early stage: Regular checks can detect problems at an early stage, when treatment is simpler.
• a silent condition: Hypertension is a silent condition that many people only discover during a check-up.
• to screen for: The programme aims to screen for bowel cancer in adults over a certain age.
• a false positive: A false positive can cause unnecessary anxiety and further tests.
• overdiagnosis: Overdiagnosis can lead to treatments that bring risk but no benefit.
• to be cost-effective: Some targeted screening is cost-effective because it focuses on higher-risk groups.
• to target resources at: Health services should target resources at people most at risk.
• to allocate funding: Governments must decide how to allocate funding between prevention and treatment.
• a preventive approach: A preventive approach can reduce pressure on hospitals later.
• unnecessary anxiety: Waiting for results can cause unnecessary anxiety for patients.

Common mistakes

• Assuming 'healthy' means 'no risk', which ignores silent conditions that check-ups are designed to find.
• Using medical terms such as 'diagnosis' and 'screening' interchangeably, which blurs the argument.
• Claiming that all screening saves lives without recognising the risk of false alarms and overdiagnosis.
• Failing to address the opposing point about limited resources for patients who are already ill.

Examiner tip: Acknowledge the strongest point against your view, such as overdiagnosis, and then show how targeting checks by risk answers it. This makes your opinion look considered.