Lifestyle modification is considered an integral part of management and will include advice on healthy eating, weight management, smoking cessation, increasing exercise and moderation of alcohol intake. For primary prevention, offering a period of lifestyle modification to reduce CV risk prior to the introduction of a statin may be an option, depending on the degree of risk and patient preference.

Health promotion with targeted campaigns, perhaps linked into other CV promotions – such as ‘Know Your Numbers’ or ‘May Measurement Month’ for blood pressure – or pro-active opportunistic conversations with patients undergoing health checks, blood pressure or cholesterol measurements are all opportunities for the community pharmacy team to play a role.

In addition, patients collecting a prescription for a statin, or for hypertension, diabetes or secondary prevention medication, are all touch points where the community pharmacy team has an opportunity to offer advice or identify patients not currently prescribed a lipid-lowering therapy who meet the clinical criteria or to support patient adherence. Excellent patient resources can be obtained from Heart UK, the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association.