The NHS is trialling blood pressure checks at dentist and optometry appointments to help find people at hidden risks of stroke or heart attacks.
The scheme which will be up and running in the coming months follows the success of NHS community pharmacy blood pressure checks, which has delivered more than a million checks in the last year and allows people to keep on top of their risk of cardiovascular disease without the need for an appointment.
As high blood pressure usually has no symptoms, it is estimated that 4.2 million people in England have the condition without knowing it.
If you have high blood pressure, reducing it even a small amount can help lower your risk of stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease and vascular dementia. The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to get a blood pressure test.
The NHS has piloted the scheme in local dental and optometry teams in London and Yorkshire, but now more sites across England will trial the service with patients who may not otherwise have interactions with NHS services.
There are 15 local Integrated Care Boards across England taking part in the scheme six areas will focus on case finding at dentists, five in optometry, and four will be offering checks at both dental and optometry sites.
More than 60 clinical practices across England will trial the new approach and its expected over 100,000 blood pressure checks could be delivered over the next 12 months.
In Humber and North Yorkshire where the approach was trialled across 24 dental practices, around one in ten patients tested were found to have hypertension.
In London, five optical practices in Bexley and Hackney offered blood pressure checks to patients. A survey of those tested also indicated that around half wouldn’t have otherwise had their blood pressure checked.
Speaking yesterday (Sunday) at the European Society of Cardiology Annual Conference in London, Helen Williams, NHS national clinical director for cardiovascular disease prevention said: “These convenient checks at dentists and optometrists will enable thousands of people to monitor their blood pressure and could potentially be life-saving.
“Many otherwise healthy people over 40 only visit their GP when they’re feeling unwell, but offering these vital checks as part of routine dentist or eye test appointments means we can identify and support more people at risk.
“High blood pressure is a significant factor in many cardiovascular diseases but as it usually has no symptoms, many people don’t know they have it, so I would urge anyone offered a check to come forward.”
Ellen Davison was an NHS member of staff in a training session on how to find patients for the pilot programme when she got some unexpected news about her own blood pressure.
Ellen, 53, said: “I hadn’t seen a GP for about three years, had no medical conditions and no known family history of hypertension, did not smoke and had never taken any medication. I was moderately active, running 5K three times a week and had a relatively healthy ‘low carb’ diet though I am slightly overweight.
“I wasn’t expecting any problem to be highlighted. During the practical training session I was identified as being outside of normal range, my blood pressure was 173/84 and was advised to book an appointment my GP, which I did.
“I’ve since discovered that many of my family have high blood pressure and my maternal Grandmother died suddenly following a stroke at the age of 52.
“Although I’m slightly disappointed that I will be taking medication moving forward, I am so grateful that this potentially saved me from a more serious outcome.”
This follows pharmacies across England carrying out community outreach this summer to encourage people to get their blood pressure checked. Heath Pharmacy in Halifax, attended Halifax Agricultural Show offering free blood pressure checks from ‘Captain BP’, as well as Well Pharmacy’s pop-up mobile health clinic in Carlisle city centre.
