Introduction and module overview

The NHS Long Term Plan for England commits the health service to reducing mortality and morbidity due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) with the focus on prevention. The ambition for hypertension is that 80 per cent of the expected number of people with high blood pressure are detected by 2029, and that 80 per cent of those diagnosed with hypertension are treated to target. 

When the NHS Long Term Plan was published in 2019, it was estimated that less than 60 per cent of people with hypertension had been diagnosed, and that 3,700 strokes and 2,500 heart attacks could be prevented within five years if more people received blood pressure checks. Community pharmacy is ideally placed to help reach those undiagnosed with high blood pressure.

England: Any healthy adult over 40 years of age can have their blood pressure checked every five years as part of the NHS Health Check programme. It has been reported that the checks find 38 new cases of high blood pressure in every 1,000 instances. Expanding coverage will help to identify further cases. 

The commissioning of a hypertension case-finding service as an advanced service offers the potential for community pharmacy teams, working with local GP services and PCNs, to offer blood pressure checks and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Northern Ireland: In 2019 a pilot aimed at detecting high blood pressure took place with Community Pharmacy NI working in partnership with Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke. 

Trained and accredited community pharmacists were able to test for high blood pressure in people over the age of 45 years. The scheme involved 60 community pharmacies in the SE area of Northern Ireland.

Scotland: A pilot running in 250 pharmacies across the country sees them supplied with Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure monitors to  record readings. The pilot will test systems and initially recording is anonymous before possible rollout as a formal, commissioned service.