Patients who have been diagnosed with hypertension will have their cardiovascular risk assessed – this will include measurement of serum total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. These will be used to estimate the individual’s 10-year risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Investigations will also ensure there is no target organ damage or secondary causes of hypertension.

A step-wise approach using lifestyle adjustments and antihypertensive medicines (where lifestyle adjustments have been unsuccessful on their own) are used to manage high blood pressure.

Lifestyle adjustments are essential to lower blood pressure. Diet, weight, physical activity, smoking cessation (if applicable), alcohol consumption and stress/anxiety all need to be addressed to ensure the individual is adopting a healthy lifestyle. Many organisations offer leaflets to support people with hypertension, including the British Heart Foundation, Blood Pressure UK and the Stroke Association.

Pharmacy staff and hypertension

Pharmacy staff are ideally placed to support people with hypertension by:

• Making patients aware of the benefits of ensuring their blood pressure is not elevated
• Screening patients, highlighting their elevated blood pressure and signposting them to their doctor as appropriate
• Ensuring the patient’s risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is reduced by lowering their blood pressure
• Identifying other cardiovascular risk factors, offering services such as NHS health checks and smoking cessation and weight management clinics to manage or refer the patient to another healthcare professional as required
• Offering services such as medicines use reviews (MURs) and the new medicine service (NMS).