you can easily check for play when the car is on the ground, all you need to do is just try to push the wheel in either direction and if it move a lot the bush is caput but if its quiet solid then your ok.
i had two bushes fail last year - both on the n/s and they were both warrenty exchanges with euros.
When they are worn out the car becomes horrible to drive and wont goe in a straight line, (tram lines), this will give you good indication something is wrong.
The thing to worry about the most is the ball joint though, jack the car up and use a long piece of metal (a trolley jack lever will do) and see if there is any up and down movement on the ball joint, all of ours have needed to be replaced in the last year.