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Blood Pressure readings and checks
Q. How can I keep an eye on my blood pressure?
A. A great way to see how your blood pressure is doing is to use a blood pressure monitor regularly at home.
Taking and monitoring your blood pressure at home can help you to feel more in control of it. It will help you to see how well your medicines are working and how much effect your lifestyle changes have made in lowering your blood pressure.
It is not possible to get a home blood pressure monitor from the NHS and you will need to buy your own. However, in some cases your doctor or nurse may lend you a machine for a period of time.
If you do buy your own home digital blood pressure monitor, please make sure that it is "Clinically validated", which means that it will give clinically accurate results (as good as your doctor's readings in the surgery). For more on buying a blood pressure monitor, please see our main web site: Blood pressure monitors).
When you buy a home digital blood pressure monitor, please let your doctor know. Some clinics, doctors and nurses may ask you to bring in your own machine before you start measuring at home, so that they can check that the machine is accurate and can answer any questions that you might have. For more on using a digital blood pressure monitor at home, please see our page on measuring your blood pressure at home.
