The NHS in the South East is urging all adults aged 40 and over in the region to make regular blood pressure monitoring a priority this World Hypertension Day.

The theme of this year’s awareness day, which is being marked today, is: “Accurate Blood Pressure Measurement, Control It, Live Longer.”

Recent statistics reveal that over 1.3 million people in the South East have been diagnosed with hypertension, also known as high blood pressure. Out of this, 66% (869,300) have managed to control their hypertension, a positive step towards reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks. However, there are still 452,885 patients with uncontrolled or unrecorded blood pressure readings.

“High blood pressure exerts extra strain on your blood vessels, heart, and other organs, including the brain, kidneys, and eyes. Chronic high blood pressure can elevate your risk of serious and potentially life-threatening health conditions,” said Dr Ahmad who is the Medical Director System Improvement and Professional Standards for the NHS in the South East.

He added: “High blood pressure typically doesn’t present any symptoms, so the only way to know if you have it is to check your blood pressure yourself or get it checked. You can measure your blood pressure at home, at a participating pharmacy, or at your GP practice.

“Through the NHS Long Term Plan, which identifies hypertension as one of the top three cardiovascular priorities, we will continue to identify more people with heart conditions or risk factors such as high blood pressure early, through more effective NHS Health Checks, working with community groups, and equipping NHS staff and others with technology allowing tests to be done quickly and easily.”

In December 2023, compared to December 2022, an additional 71,120 patients were diagnosed with high blood pressure across the South East, an increase of 5.4%. Furthermore, NHS staff, including GPs and community pharmacies, supported thousands of patients with diagnosed hypertension to reduce their blood pressure to recommended levels.

In Slough, Berkshire, Dr Bharan Kumar, Clinical Director, SHAPE Primary Care Network, Bharani Group Practices, shares how the multi-disciplinary team within his practice has been making a real difference to patients with high blood pressure.

“We recognised that our services needed to change to meet the needs of our patients, especially those living with long term conditions like Hypertension (high blood pressure). We adapted our ways of working, brought new clinicians and team members on board and utilised new technologies to support our work,” said Dr Kumar.

A key member of the team for this particular trial was Sagar Patel, a Clinical Pharmacist based within the surgery. Sagar reached out to patients living with high blood pressure and diabetes inviting them to carry out a home blood pressure check or encouraging them to visit a community pharmacy to take their reading if they needed support in doing so. The patient then sent their readings to us via text message, and these were entered into the patients records for review.

Sagar said: “I am able to easily see patient’s blood pressure readings and follow up with them if their readings appear high, discussing with them changes they can make to diet and activity levels and put a treatment plan in place. In my role I can spend more time with the patients, discussing with them any concerns they may have or answering questions around their medications. I find patients are enthusiastic about this approach. They don’t need to call the surgery; it saves them time and they feel more in control of keeping themselves well.”

Patient Surinder Ruprai has benefited from the general practice team in place supporting this initiative. Surinder said: “This is such a great idea. When you have people like me who lead very busy lives it is one less thing to worry about. I don’t need to be on the phone trying to make an appointment and I know if there is an issue I will receive a text or call back from Sagar at the surgery.”

Dr Kumar added: “This approach has enabled us to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve consistently high positive outcomes for patients and staff, reducing health inequalities and most importantly improving the patient experience. In our journey we have managed to go from the lowest outcomes for those living with high blood pressure to becoming the highest performing primary care network in our area.”

For more information on hypertension (high blood pressure), please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/

Note to editor:

Data quoted in this press release has been taken from The Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Audit (CVDPREVENT) which is a national primary care audit that automatically extracts routinely held GP data. The Data & Improvement Tool provides open access to the data, with clear, actionable insights for those tasked with improving cardiovascular health in England. https://www.cvdprevent.nhs.uk/