Service case study: British Heart Foundation Innovation Award secures HLP pilot
Published on: 22nd January 2018 | Updated on: 28th March 2022
Patients in Cheshire & Merseyside can now get their blood pressure and heartbeat screened in accredited Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLPs) as part of a new joint project implemented in various settings across the region.
How was the service set up?
This service is linked to a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Blood Pressure Innovation Award which offers funding to develop, test and implement community approaches to the detection of high blood pressure across the UK. Undetected high blood pressure is one of the key priorities for the area’s Sustainability and Transformation Partnership and one which Champs, a local public health organisation, has been driving locally.
Champs made a bid to the Award and secured five local projects to be piloted across the area involving Fire & Rescue services, digital kiosks, a digital conversational tool and HLPs. A project steering group was set up by Champs to mobilise individual elements of the action plan and included representation from all Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) in the area as well as the Local Professional Network Chair, Hassan Argomandkhah, who took the lead on the community pharmacy aspect of the project. All three groups have worked collaboratively to implement the project with a memorandum of understanding being developed between the organisations.
What does the service involve?
The service is available for adults aged 18 and over with possible high blood pressure, who are not pregnant and do not have a known irregular heartbeat. Pharmacy teams follow the newly-developed Cheshire & Merseyside primary care blood pressure guideline for health professionals to appropriately advise patients. All patients who undergo screening are given a wallet-sized record card with actions and advice.
What are the next steps?
The digital conversational tool will be developed in January 2018 and will be used by HLPs to engage people, and encourage participation in BP testing and promote the adoption of a healthy lifestyle using the Heart Age Tool and behavioural insights.
The project aims to secure a minimum of 3,000 recorded measurements across 120 HLPs by March 2019. All data is being entered on PharmOutcomes and the LPCs are working with the BHF Project Data Team to ensure the minimum data set required for the project evaluation is captured.
Further details on this service and other cardiovascular-related services can be found on the Community Pharmacy England Services Database.
