In Health & NHS news

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

The Labour MP Ashley Dalton has revealed a three-week campaign launched in March 2024 by the Conservative Government to raise awareness of high blood pressure in England saw 50,000 more people receive checks in pharmacies compared with the same period the previous year.  

Dalton (pictured), the minister for public health and prevention, told parliament last week that 50,046 more people were tested as part of the Get Your Blood Pressure Checked campaign, which urged those aged 40 and over to get a free test in a pharmacy.

She said there were 76,627 more checks while visits to the NHS Find a Pharmacy online tool increased by over 967 per cent. She also said there were 117,546 visits to the resource during the campaign period compared with 12,154 in the three weeks before its launch. 

Responding to Conservative MP Julian Smith, who asked if health secretary Wes Streeting had assessed the effectiveness of hypertension public awareness campaigns and if he will introduce “additional measures” to encourage more adults to have checks, Dalton said Labour “continue to invest heavily in the community pharmacy hypertension service”.

“Since October 2021, pharmacies have delivered nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks,” she said.

“In addition, the NHS Blood Pressure @Home initiative has delivered over 220,000 blood pressure monitors to enable at-risk patients to measure their blood pressure remotely.”

The campaign in March 2024 was bolstered by advertising on television, video-on-demand, social media and posters.

Image: www.parliament.uk