BP@Home Project

Mid and South West Essex Practices

The CCGs have been working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to secure funding for the BP @ Home project. In England, there are over eight million people diagnosed with hypertension and it is estimated that 30-40% of these people have access to a home blood pressure monitor. This project aims to work with Primary Care to support the routine management of at-risk patients who have been diagnosed with hypertension and do not currently have access to a BP monitor. A pilot has commenced in south east Essex and patients have already been issued and are using BP monitors at home, the system is now in a position to roll this out across Mid Essex and south west Essex. The project targets the following patient population:

• Group 1: Patients who are clinically extremely vulnerable (previously shielded population) with a last recorded blood pressure (BP) of systolic BP > 150mmHg and/or diastolic BP > 90mmHg and are not in group 2, to be provided with a basic BP monitor
• Group 2: Patients who are clinically extremely vulnerable who have had a prior stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and last recorded blood pressure of systolic BP > 150mmHg and/or diastolic BP > 90mmHg and do not already have a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF), to be provided with a BP monitor that can detect AF
• Group 3: Patients whose last recorded blood pressure of systolic BP > 150mmHg and/or diastolic BP > 90mmHg and are not in groups 1 and 2, encouraged to buy a validated BP monitor

The patient searches for the above cohorts have already been completed and BP monitors are ready to be distributed following GP Practice sign-up. The team will be in contact shortly to confirm sign-up and to discuss further. If you have any questions at present then please contact Hannah Evans [email protected]

South East Essex BP@Home pilot

In England, there are over eight million people diagnosed with hypertension (Quality and Outcomes Framework, 2019-20). During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that patients with cardiovascular risk factors may not be receiving their usual review and treatment adjustment in primary care for their hypertension. 

Evidence supports the use of self- and telemonitoring of blood pressure (BP) vs normal care in primary care as it is cost effective (McManus et al., 2018); saves GP time (Hammersley et al., 2020) by shifting care from GPs to other members of the multidisciplinary team; and reduces incidence of clinical events such as death, heart attack or stroke, over five years (Margolis et al., 2020). 

It is estimated that 30-40% of people with a diagnosis of hypertension have access to home blood pressure monitors (Baral-Grant S et al., 2012; Hodgkinson et al., 2020).

NHSE provided a pool of monitors to CCGs across the Region to test the concept of BP@Home monitoring.  All devices need to be issued by the end of March to inform a wider national initiative to roll this out further.