Blood pressure checks will be offered to patients visiting the dentist or optician in an NHS drive to identify more of the 4.2 million people living with undiagnosed high blood pressure.
The “silent killer” raises risk of a raft of deadly conditions including stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease and vascular dementia.
Following successful pilots in London and Yorkshire, the extra tests will be offered to 100,000 people across the country over the next year.
Helen Williams, NHS England’s national clinical director for cardiovascular disease prevention, announced the scheme at the European Society of Cardiology annual congress in London on Sunday.
She said: “These convenient checks at dentists and optometrists will enable thousands of people to monitor their blood pressure and could potentially be life-saving.
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“Many otherwise healthy people over 40 only visit their GP when they’re feeling unwell, but offering these vital checks as part of routine dentist or eye test appointments means we can identify and support more people at risk.
“High blood pressure is a significant factor in many cardiovascular diseases but as it usually has no symptoms, many people don’t know they have it, so I would urge anyone offered a check to come forward.”
Fifteen local integrated care boards across England are taking part in the scheme. Six will focus on offering test to patients visiting the dentist, five on optometry, and four will offer tests in both settings.
The checks will be carried out by trained practice staff members at more than 60 clinical practices. During trials at 24 dental practices in Humber and North Yorkshire, around one in ten patients tested were found to have hypertension.
The rollout follows similar efforts to identify people with high blood pressure at pharmacies over the summer. More than 1.4 million blood pressure consultations were carried out between January and July.
Consultant cardiologist Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “If left untreated, high blood pressure is a silent killer.
“There aren’t usually any symptoms, and it can significantly raise your risk of a future life-threatening heart attack, heart failure, or stroke.
“The expansion of blood pressure checks into local pharmacies and communities has allowed tens of thousands more people to access these lifesaving health checks for free.
“Today’s announcement has the potential to provide more opportunities to identify high blood pressure and save more lives from heart attacks and strokes.”
British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch said: “Shrewd investment here could prevent disease and save our NHS a fortune.
“Dentists are ready to play their part, but any gains will remain purely theoretical without the funding and reform required to save this service.”
‘A shock blood pressure result at work may have saved my life.’
NHS worker Ellen Davison, 53, was being trained for the programme when a test revealed her own blood pressure was high.
She said: “I hadn’t seen a GP for about three years, had no medical conditions and no known family history of hypertension, did not smoke and had never taken any medication.
“I was moderately active, running 5K three times a week and had a relatively healthy ‘low carb’ diet though I am slightly overweight. I wasn’t expecting any problem to be highlighted.”
Normal blood pressure is usually considered to be between 90/60 mmHg and 120/80 mmHg, or slightly higher for people aged over 80.
The test showed Ellen’s blood pressure was 173/84 and she was advised to book an appointment with her GP.
She added: “I’ve since discovered that many of my family have high blood pressure and my maternal grandmother died suddenly following a stroke at the age of 52.
“Although I’m slightly disappointed that I will be taking medication moving forward, I am so grateful that this potentially saved me from a more serious outcome.”