More than 400,000 pharmacy blood pressure checks were carried out in 10 months
More than 400,000 blood pressure checks were carried out by community pharmacy over a 10-month period, the pharmacy minister, Neil O’Brien, has revealed.
More than 400,000 blood pressure checks were carried out by community pharmacy over a 10-month period, the pharmacy minister, Neil O’Brien, has revealed.
O’Brien also said – in response to a written question from an MP to the Department of Health and Social Care – that more than 8,000 pharmacies have signed up to the hypertension case-finding service.
Under this service, which was introduced in October 2021, pharmacy teams can identify patients with undiagnosed hypertension by taking their blood pressure and, depending on their measurement, refer them to the GP, advise healthy behaviours, and offer them at-home blood pressure monitoring.
Nirmala Markandu, Hypertension Nurse Specialist at Blood Pressure UK, said: “The hypertension case-finding service is crucial to ensuring people have a better chance of managing high blood pressure before it’s too late. Pharmacy teams are carrying out invaluable work for patients across the country.”