News Release

Surgery staff called to help reach adults in the dark about the dangers of high blood pressure

10 July 2008

The Blood Pressure Association (BPA) is inviting staff at doctor’s surgeries to take part in Know your Numbers! Week 2008 to help raise awareness of the blood pressure ‘ticking time bomb’.

Know your Numbers! Week (8-14 September) is the nation’s biggest blood pressure event which provides free blood pressure checks at thousands of ‘Pressure Stations’ run by healthcare professionals nationwide.

The BPA is encouraging surgery staff to run Pressure Stations and help reach some of the 5.3 million adults in the UK who do not know they have high blood pressure. Undetected and uncontrolled high blood pressure is the most common cause of strokes, heart attacks and heart disease. During Know your Numbers! Week 2007, more than 253,000 adults had their blood pressure tested at 2,755 BPA Pressure Stations and at least 40 per cent of people tested during the Week were found to have high blood pressure readings.

The BPA won an award at The Charity Awards 2008 for the campaign, which aims to encourage people to take control of their health and know their blood pressure numbers in the same way they know their height and weight.

Know your Numbers! Week gives surgery staff, qualified to measure blood pressure as part of their role, the opportunity to meet professional goals, reach people they might not normally see, and benefit from the publicity generated by this successful event. Surgery staff who register to take part receive a BPA resource pack that includes testing guidelines, leaflets, posters and record cards.

Carol Tweedy, Practice Manager at Adelaide Street Family Practice, Blackpool, took part last year and said: "It was really great being a part of Know your Numbers! Week last year as we were able to raise awareness about high blood pressure in the community and generate good publicity for the practice. We used an empty shop unit in Hounds Hill Shopping Centre, Blackpool and decorated it with balloons and posters to encourage people to come in and get their blood pressure tested. The Mayor and Mayoress of Blackpool opened our Pressure Station and we took over 540 blood pressure tests. Know your Numbers! Week also provided an excellent opportunity to have a team building exercise."

Mark Hooley, BPA Projects and Marketing Officer who organises the event, explains "Undiagnosed high blood pressure is a ticking time bomb and a potentially life threatening condition. But with the help of surgery staff during Know your Numbers! Week, we can identify some of the UK adult population who are unaware that they have high blood pressure and potentially save lives."

"This is good example of how to take blood pressure checks out into the community and we’d like other health professionals to do things like this as it helps to reach people who wouldn’t normally have blood pressure checks."

Registration for Know your Numbers! Week 2008 closes soon, so visit the BPA’s website www.bpassoc.org.uk/kyn or call Mark Hooley on 020 8772 4992 to sign up today.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

For further information please contact:
Michelle Gederon, BPA Press & PR Officer, 020 8772 4993

• The Blood Pressure Association, the UK’s blood pressure charity, provides information and support to people with high blood pressure and raises awareness about prevention of the condition. For more details visit www.bpassoc.org.uk or call 020 8772 4994.