High blood pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure of blood in your arteries. The higher your blood pressure the greater your risk of developing narrowed arteries which can lead to: Heart problems, Kidney disease and Strokes.

Jill Swann runs our service for patients with blood pressure problems. She is an experienced practice nurse who has undergone training and developed expertise in managing high blood pressure.

Home blood pressure monitoring

We encourage home blood pressure monitoring and Jill will give advice and encouragement (sadly it is not possible for us to help with the cost of buying the monitor). See the British Hypertension Society for approved digital blood pressure monitors and how to measure blood pressure with a digital monitor. There is no reason why the six-month check should not be measured on your machine at home but we would want to know the reading so it can be recorded on our computer database.

Automatic blood pressure monitor To make life easier for our patients we have purchased this state of the art automatic blood pressure monitor. We hope it will give you confidence to monitor your own blood pressure once its treatment has been optimised and maybe even encourage you to purchase your own home BP monitor. At first  we propose to limit its use to the following: 6 month blood pressure check in patients without diabetes, heart disease or strokes When a patient has a high blood pressure reading it is important to clarify whether the blood pressure elevation is sustained or whether with time it returns to normal.  We like to repeat the blood pressure getting three readings ideally at monthly intervals.  We would only advocate treatment in patients whose blood pressure fails to return to normal.

Whenever possible, we will manage your blood pressure according to the 2006 "NICE" guidelines

In recent years there has been much debate about the best way to treat high blood pressure. Most of this debate has focused on the best drug to use first.  It is however very important to understand that most of this debate is rendered redundant by most patients requiring more than one medication to bring their blood pressure under control so they will have relatively little impact on patients already on treatment. Much attention has been focused recently on the use of beta blockers.

We will adhere to the NICE guidelines which we are very happy for you to read.  The Blood Pressure Association has also released a fact sheet for patients.

See also British Hypertension society  and How to measure Blood pressure

Once BP is stable at target levels it needs to be checked 6 monthly by our practice technicians ( a study published in The British Medical Journal in January 2004 shows there is no advantage in being seen more frequently).

All our patients with hypertension should have an annual blood test to check for kidney function and diabetes in particular. if the blood sample is taken here by one of her technicians, the blood pressure can be checked at the same time.

With education and help from we are keen to see our patients involved in their own treatment.

Page last updated January, 2009