Dear Member,
The weekly NMS series was a huge success, and the feedback we have received has been amazing. We have now completed the series and will now focus on areas that will help you to provide the best service to your patients in
line with both your and the NHS priorities. This week, we will look at ABPM in the hypertension service.
Thanks to your hard work, clinic BP case-finding is now well-embedded in our pharmacies. To maximise our clinical impact and better support our GPs, we now need to shift our focus to the second, critical phase of the service Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring
(ABPM).
When is ABPM required?
As a reminder, under the NHS service spec, we must offer an ABPM to any patient whose initial clinic reading falls between 140/90 and 179/119 mmHg. (Note Readings of 180/120 or higher require urgent same-day GP referral, not
ABPM).
Why the urgent pivot to ABPM?
It is the Gold Standard. Clinic readings only triage. ABPM rules out the White Coat effect, saving patients from unnecessary lifelong medication.
Vital Night-Time Data. Capturing sleep readings is critical for accurate cardiovascular risk assessment.
Complete Care. Finishing the ABPM step provides a fully actionable diagnostic package, significantly reducing GP workload.
The Barrier and
Solution
Patients often dislike wearing the monitor for 24 hours, leading to early removal. Please review and share the attached 1-page NHS ABPM Pathway. Rather than just listing rules, this visual guide gives your teams the exact scripts and clinical logic needed to convince patients to complete the full 24-hour test.
Equipment Procurement
If you need to purchase additional ABPM monitors to support this increased focus, please note that these can be bought directly from our preferred supplier, Valley Solutions.
Next Steps
Please print the attached infographic for your consultation rooms and use it to brief your teams this week.
As always, if you have any questions or feedback on these resources, please don't hesitate to get in
touch.
Regards,
PharmaPlus
