More than a third of Brits don't get our blood pressure checked regularly, and health charities are warning that five million people could be living with undiagnosed high blood pressure in the UK.
We spoke to the British Heart Foundation earlier on The Kent Morning Show.
We spoke to the British Heart Foundation earlier on The Kent Morning Show.
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00:00Ruth, Jonathan, thank you both so much for joining me. Now, a recent survey has uncovered
00:05how Brits put off blood pressure checks. Why do you think that is?
00:12The research that Tesco has done is that 15% of people don't think they have time to have
00:19the blood pressure checked. Over a third of people assume they haven't got a problem with
00:23their blood pressure because they haven't had any previous issues with the heart,
00:28but the key concerning stat is that up to 5 million people across the UK are walking around
00:33with undiagnosed high blood pressure. So, this is what the campaign is all about, is awareness to
00:39encourage people to be aware of their blood pressure and have it measured and then manage
00:45it from there. Ruth, I imagine you see a lot of people that, as Jonathan said, have no idea there
00:50was ever an issue at all. Yes, absolutely. High blood pressure is the leading modifiable risk
00:57factor for heart and circulatory disease in the UK, but it tends to not have any symptoms. So,
01:02there are so many people walking around, as Jonathan has said, who may have high blood pressure
01:08and it's often easy to treat, but if it's left undiagnosed then that's when it can cause serious
01:13illnesses. Jonathan, just explain to us how actually easy it is to treat this kind of thing
01:19because that's sort of the message that you want to get across, that it doesn't take as much time
01:24as you think and we can actually factor it into our lives. In terms of Tesco Pharmacy and broader
01:31community pharmacies, people can go and get their blood pressure checked there and then. The check
01:36can be done in a private consultation room. There'll be a pharmacist available that can advise
01:40in terms of the blood pressure readings and can potentially refer them on to the GP if high blood
01:45pressure is indicated. So, in terms of diagnosis, it's really, or knowing your blood pressure,
01:50don't delay, go and get your blood pressure checked and community pharmacy is a perfect
01:55setting to get it done quickly and simply via a professional pharmacist. Jonathan, do you think
02:01that people worry that the pharmacies are just too busy now? I mean, we've seen this Pharmacy First
02:06scheme where pharmacies have more powers to help us with illnesses and symptoms of colds and flus
02:13and things like that, but the doctors are busy, the pharmacies are busy. Are people thinking,
02:18oh, they won't have time to help me out? Maybe. You're right. The NHS, the Pharmacy First
02:24service has been really valuable to patients and given access to pharmacies for services that they
02:32would normally have had to rely on a GP for. But I would always encourage someone to go to a
02:38pharmacy, certainly a supermarket pharmacy. If they're shopping in Tesco, go to the pharmacy
02:41and ask or you can book an appointment. Obviously, prescriptions are an important part of our
02:47business, but the NHS clearly wants to support community pharmacies in providing more and more
02:51services such as the Pharmacy First service, the NHS blood pressure check service and others. So,
02:56it's a clear direction of travel for us and we're resourcing our pharmacies accordingly. So,
03:02I would always hope that we have availability for appointments and to support customers
03:07through services. And Ruth, we don't want to overwhelm services, of course, as we were just
03:11touching on there and we don't want to scare people, but what are some of those risks if
03:15people aren't getting checked? And actually, what could high blood pressure signal?
03:21So, if you have high blood pressure, it does show that you maybe have a problem or you're
03:26developing a risk factor which can cause problems with your heart. High blood pressure is a leading
03:32risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. So, if you don't take control of it and try to treat it
03:37and manage it, then you are leaving yourself at higher risk of having a heart attack and stroke.
03:42And it can be associated with other sort of conditions as well, such as kidney failure,
03:47problems with your eyesight and vascular dementia. So, it really can have a huge impact
03:51on not only your heart health, but your general health, which is why it's so important that we're
03:55raising awareness for people to know their numbers and get their blood pressure checked.