NHS England has ordered community pharmacists not to carry out free blood pressure checks more than once every five years, a change that could leave people with undiagnosed heart or cardiovascular problems, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) warns.
Rule change sparks fears of undiagnosed hypertension
The NPA, which represents 6,000 pharmacies across the UK, said the change could leave people with undiagnosed heart or cardiovascular problems. Berkshire pharmacist Olivier Picard, who also chairs the NPA, told the Mirror: “People might be walking around with this silent killer. A lot can change with your health in 12 months, never mind five years.”
High blood pressure usually has no symptoms until it's too late. As part of the government’s drive to treat more people in the community and out of hospitals, pharmacies are increasingly becoming almost drop-in GP services for minor ailments. High street pharmacies are usually equipped with rooms for private consultations and staff are proactive in offering tests, checks and advice to keep people well - for which they are paid by the NHS.
Pharmacies call for pause on plan
However, the change appears to scale that back by reducing the number of £10 blood tests it has to pay pharmacies to do. The NPA is calling for an immediate pause to the plan due to come into force next month.
Henry Gregg, chief executive of the NPA, said the move “flies in the face of efforts to prevent disease”, adding: “This will undermine the government’s ambition to promote health prevention and could leave health problems undiagnosed.”
A third of UK adults have high blood pressure - known as hypertension - but an estimated four to five million are undiagnosed. It is diagnosed if your reading is 140/90 mmHg or higher when checked by a healthcare professional in a clinic, or an average of 135/85 mmHg or higher when monitored at home.
Pharmacist: 'It will put more burden on hospitals and GPs'
Olivier Picard, who has been a pharmacist for over 20 years, added: “Often we won’t know whether someone has had their blood pressure checked in the last five years. I had one lady come and see me for a headache and I checked her blood pressure and it was over 220 mmHg. I sent her straight to A&E. If we can’t do these kind of checks it will put more burden on hospitals and GPs.”
NHS England said last year that community pharmacies had carried out seven million blood pressure checks since the launch of the hypertension case-finding service in October 2021. This included one million people being checked in the top 10% most deprived areas in England where people often go undiagnosed. The update stated “repeat clinical checks” for hypertension should not be carried out by pharmacists outside of “exceptional clinical cases”.
Henry Gregg added: “If the NHS has evidence that blood pressure checks are being done unnecessarily frequently on some individuals, they need to take this up with the individual contractors rather than put in place arbitrary rules that undermine our shared goal of reducing the number of cases of undiagnosed hypertension. This is a sledge hammer to crack a nut.
“Pharmacies need the freedom to make public health interventions without constantly worrying about whether they will be reimbursed for their work. If some people are checked more frequently than every five years, that is a small price to pay.
“We need to focus on the real risk – which is people walking around not knowing that they are at an increased risk of an early heart attack or stroke.”
The NHS hypertension case-finding service is aimed at adults over 40 and if diagnosed patients can be given medication such as ACE inhibitors to relax blood vessels by blocking hormone production. The Mirror is campaigning to save family chemists and stop the closures which are piling pressure on overstretched GPs.
An NHS England spokesman said: “Thousands of pharmacies across England will continue to offer blood pressure checks in line with clinical guidance set by NICE and as part of NHS efforts to spot people at risk of hypertension.
“Pharmacies deliver 300,000 blood pressure checks a month and anyone aged 40 or over who hasn’t had a check in the last five years is encouraged to come forward.”
