A national campaign to encourage people to be more aware of the dangers of high blood pressure takes place this week.
The annual Know Your Numbers Week (2-8 September) is led by health professionals with the aim of getting people to be as familiar with their blood pressure as they are their weight.
The NHS organisations in Lancashire and South Cumbria is supporting the event, organised by Blood Pressure UK, and calling on people to get their blood pressure checked to help prevent killer conditions such as heart attacks and strokes.
Jeannie Hayhurst, cardiovascular diseases clinical lead for Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), said: “Your blood pressure can be easily checked in a number of different places, including at a local community pharmacy, your GP practice or by purchasing your own home blood pressure monitor.
“During Know Your Numbers Week, there will also be “pop up” sites in and around Lancashire and South Cumbria.
“Remember, it’s important to know your numbers, because even if you are diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure), it can be managed successfully through medication and lifestyle changes.”
The NHS now has a well-established blood pressure checking service available in over 340 community pharmacies, to support a major drive to prevent strokes and heart attacks. Community pharmacists are trained to carry out blood pressure checks, analyse the results, provide advice on lifestyle changes and have the ability to refer on patients with high blood pressure for further investigation.
Local teams are working together within communities and neighbourhoods to find potential health problems before they become more serious for patients, at locations that are most convenient. The ICB recently launched two pilot programmes to increase uptake via less conventional routes; using optical services and local barber shops to carry out blood pressure checks.
The North West has the highest number of people with GP recorded hypertension in England (18.17 per cent), but many more could have high blood pressure without realising it.
Dr Ranjit More, Lancashire and South Cumbria Cardiac Network clinical lead and consultant cardiologist, said: “Around one in every three adults in England have high blood pressure at some point, but not all of those people will be aware of it.
“It is the most common cause of heart attacks and strokes and the second most common cause for chronic kidney disease, so it is important to check your blood pressure and know your numbers. It is often symptomless, so of course, unfortunately for some people they would never know until it is too late.
“If you are an adult and have not previously or recently had your blood pressure checked, please do so.”
You can get your blood pressure checked at several places, including many pharmacies, or at an NHS Health Check appointment offered to adults in England aged 40-74.
To find your nearest pharmacy go to www.nhs.uk
For more information regarding blood pressure go to https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/