High Blood Pressure

and home blood pressure monitoring.

Why Focus on High Blood Pressure? 

Around half of strokes and heart attacks are attributable to high blood pressure, and high BP accounted for around 12% of all visits to GPs in England, pre-Covid 19. Those in the most deprived communities are 30% more likely to be affected by high BP.  

Many people are still living with undetected and poorly controlled high blood pressure (BP) across Cheshire and Merseyside. Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England have agreed national ambitions for the detection and management of high blood pressure over the next 10 years. C&M Health and Care Partnership has committed to achieving these ambitions. By 2029 the high BP ambitions are:

  • 80% of the expected number of people with high BP are diagnosed
  • 80% of the total number of people diagnosed with high BP are treated to target as per NICE guidelines

Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) 

The importance of Home Blood Pressure Monitoring has come to the fore during the Covid-19 pandemic and the national Blood Pressure@home (BP@home) programme has been set up through NHS @home to enable people to measure and share their blood pressure readings with their GP from their home. This has been important during the COVID-19 pandemic for people who are vulnerable to becoming seriously ill with COVID-19. It allows them to better manage their hypertension without having to attend GP appointments. 

The evidence base for HBPM is long-established: it is well tolerated and empowers patients, it can improve medication adherence, and is effective at lowering BP when combined with other supportive interventions. Home blood pressure monitoring has been shown to reduce heart attacks, strokes and deaths.

Blood Pressure Quality Improvement (BPQI) Toolkit

The Blood Pressure Quality Improvement (BPQI) Toolkit is a collaboratively and locally developed QI package that embeds into EMIS and System One and supports general practice teams to deliver best practice. It contains a practice/PCN level dashboard, including risk stratification function to help practices prioritise BP patients for review. It is FREE to all PCNs and practices in Cheshire and Merseyside and can be downloaded here: https://qitoolkits.innovationagencynwc.nhs.uk/

For more information and resources, please visit this website: https://www.healthinnovationnwc.nhs.uk/blood-pressure-quality-improvement