A pilot to offer blood pressure checks to patients over 40 at social enterprise Community Dental Services CIC Lincolnshire and Essex has been launched by Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB and Lincolnshire ICB.
It will run within specific Community Dental Services clinics until July 2025 with the aim of improving the identification of hypertension so patients at risk can be signposted to early interventions.
Eligible patients will be offered a blood pressure check within their dental appointments by trained employees in Community Dental Services’ clinics in North Hykeham, Harlow and Epping.
It is hoped that offering a blood pressure check at a dental appointment will help identify people who may be unaware of a health problem and do not regularly visit their GP or other health services that provide these checks.
Nicola Bushell, operations manager for Community Dental Services in Essex, one of the locations where the pilot is being delivered, said: ‘As CDS is a social enterprise, we aim to continuously improve the health of our patients. We want to make every moment count, so if we can provide oral health treatment and identify patients with hypertension at the same time, we feel that is a good use of our resources and time.’
Last September, the NHS announced it would pilot offering patients blood pressure checks at dental and optometry appointments across 15 ICBs to help find those at risk of heart attacks and strokes.
It followed a trial of the service in Humber and North Yorkshire in 24 dental practices, where around one in ten patients tested were found to have hypertension, and in London with five optical practices.
NHS England said it expects over 100,000 checks to be delivered over 12 months via the scheme.
Around one in three adults in the UK has high blood pressure, with half of people not being diagnosed or receiving treatment, according to charity Blood Pressure UK.
