Just how arm's length and offhand can GPs get?

CocoPops

If an accurate reading is required then it should be taken at the surgery in my opinion., coupled with a few questions eg smoking status, alcohol consumption family history and weight. 5 minute job!

A home BP reading is just as accurate. Why would anybody want to lie about it? It's not as though 'cheating' benefits anybody. NICE recognises that home BP readings are generally lower than those taken in a medical environment and takes account of that in its guidance.

A patient can just as easily tick a couple of boxes online about smoking status, alcohol consumption and family history. It's not rocket science to weigh oneself and submit a reading. There's absolutely no need for a face-to-face appointment.

HousePlantQueen

I am very much in favour of preventative medicine in terms of monitoring of glucose, cholesterol and BP levels, but it would perhaps have been more useful or informative if MOnica's DD's GP practice had explained why they were asking for this information. My GP practice has never contacted me, no 50+, 60+ check, nothing at all.

If you've already attended the surgery for other reasons, the stats recorded in a 50+ or 60+ check will already be on file. I once asked about a 60+ health check, but was told it would just be repeating the checks they already do for my diabetic checkups.

If you haven't had any contact with your GP for years, they're being negligent. Maybe they're fed up with the people who moan about them when they do their job!

We have a BP Monitor and an Oximeter (for my Asthma) I use the BP Monitor annually as my BP shoots up when I go to the Surgery for my annual check up.

The Oximeter has been useful when I have an Asthma problem and if it’s bad I can start on my emergency Steroids without asking for a GP appointment.

I’d rather do things at home than trek into our nearest town and sit in the waiting room for half an hour. I feel I’m intelligent enough to know when I need to contact the surgery but it helps if I have accurate info to tell the Receptionist why I want an appointment.

Why Monica’s daughter has had a request to do her BP is probably that her age group now falls into the time when she will be monitored for various health conditions.

I have a BP monitor and oximeter, check my BP on a regular basis and three months ago noticed it had increased so contacted my doctor on their online service. I've had some changes of medication, two blood tests and I've just done a third monitoring over several days, all organised online. My last monitoring went in on Sunday , yesterday notes appeared on my NHS app and this morning I was able to increase some medication. I've been feeling really well, my BP hasn't given me any symptoms and if I didn't take responsibility for my own health I'd have had no idea that my BP was much too high. I don't need to see a doctor f2f and I'm satisfied with the care I have from my GP. Not so long ago I would either have lived in ignorance that my health was being damaged by high BP or I'd have been in and out of the surgery every couple of weeks sitting in busy waiting rooms and taking up lots of doctor time. We all need to take more responsibility for our health and change our expectations of what primary care looks like.

I completely agree foxie48

I absolutely agree with everything you have said growstuff.
I do not understand why anyone would be offended that their GP is actually doing his/her job.
Blood pressure readings taken at home are likely to be more accurate, and cause little to no inconvenience to the patient, who simply texts/emails/rings the result through to the surgery.

I understand that a pharmacy is paid £15 for every patients who gets their blood pressure checked.

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2021-10/Drug%20Tariff%20Part%20VIC%20Community%20Pharmacy%20Hypertension%20Case-Finding%20Advanced%20Service%2004102021.pdf

High blood pressure is a risk factor for strokes and heart attacks.
The NHS is often criticised for not doing enough preventive medicine.
Then as soon as GPs start doing some preventive medicine, like monitoring patients’ blood pressure, they get lambasted for being interfering/offhand 🤷‍♀️

Aveline

Seems fine by me. Obviously the GP surgery is wanting to start monitoring her as she's now over 50. It's in her interests to make this tiny effort on her own behalf. It would be useful for her medical notes to have a baseline BP for future reference. Not sure why you are so cross about it.

I think I’d be cross if they want to start monitoring regularly but don’t provide the machine. Having said that, my DH has diabetes and both the blood sugar and blood pressure monitors provided were the cheapest of the cheap and absolutely useless - readings all over the place - so I returned them and we bought our own. I agree with you though - I don’t think it’s unreasonable if it’s just occasionally and a blood pressure check is easily available via the pharmacy.

I’ve hypertension and been on four medications for years, up until this year I’ve been to the nurse for a BP check, urine test and blood test for diabetes, the last three years I’ve been told I’m pre diabetic, this month I’ve been texted to make an appointment for the yearly check when trying to book this I’m told it’s no longer face to face but a chat with a pharmacist, at 73 I’m quite convinced that the NHS regards me as not worth worrying about.

Last time I collected my meds from surgery I was told I needed a medication review before I could order next month's . 2 days later I had an online review sent to me asking for BP reading, height, smoking ,weight and questions about forgetting to take pills. So I did all that and next day told my review was satisfactory and I could order my meds . So does a Dr check my answers I wonder or is it done by computer?

My local surgery is very happy to invite me for flu/covid jabs, asthma checks etc because they get paid extra for this. I was recently invited for my first health check and was told they are for 60-75 aged patients and should have been having them regularly but due to my age I won't be eligible for another. I was told my cholesterol was very high and while checking back on their website to see what previous reading was ( taken almost 10 yrs previously) I discovered it had been high since then and I'd been given a high QRisk score of almost 20% which means I'm likely to have a heart attack or stroke within the next 10 yrs! Nobody bothered to tell me this or prescribe any treatment/advice - then again they wouldn't get paid extra for that would they?!

knspol

My local surgery is very happy to invite me for flu/covid jabs, asthma checks etc because they get paid extra for this. I was recently invited for my first health check and was told they are for 60-75 aged patients and should have been having them regularly but due to my age I won't be eligible for another. I was told my cholesterol was very high and while checking back on their website to see what previous reading was ( taken almost 10 yrs previously) I discovered it had been high since then and I'd been given a high QRisk score of almost 20% which means I'm likely to have a heart attack or stroke within the next 10 yrs! Nobody bothered to tell me this or prescribe any treatment/advice - then again they wouldn't get paid extra for that would they?!

Yes, they would have been paid extra. Look up the QOF framework.

Incidentally. a QRisk score of 20% means you're 80% likely not to have a heart attack or stroke withing 10 years, so it'not likely at all.

If you're having asthma checks, your surgery possibly already has all the information which would be gleaned from an age check.

Diggingdoris

Last time I collected my meds from surgery I was told I needed a medication review before I could order next month's . 2 days later I had an online review sent to me asking for BP reading, height, smoking ,weight and questions about forgetting to take pills. So I did all that and next day told my review was satisfactory and I could order my meds . So does a Dr check my answers I wonder or is it done by computer?

How would it have been any different if you'd had a face-to-face appointment? If you'd lied on the online form, you would probably have lied if asked directly. I guess the alternative is that you did lie because you want to harm yourself, but I doubt it. Why would you?

It's common practice for GP surgeries to monitor the BP for people over 50. It has been for some time. It's for the person's own good. My GP practice has a BP meter that a patient can come in and use, or meters it will lend to people. At the moment I am housebound but a nurse will come round to measure my BP. Excellent service all round.

Surely it’s nice to know someone cares about your health instead of not being able to contact anyone in the NHS..

I'd been given a high QRisk score of almost 20% which means I'm likely to have a heart attack or stroke within the next 10 yrs!
knspol
No it doesn’t. It means you have a 20% chance, or a 1 in 5 of a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years.
In other words, out of 5 people with the exact same risk profile as you, 1 will have a heart attack and 4 won’t.
Or, you personally have a 4 in 5 chance of not having a heart attack in the next 10 years.
Always look on the bright si-ide of life 🎶 te dum🎶 te dum 🎶te dum 🎶te dum🎶 😆

petal53

I absolutely agree with everything you have said growstuff.
I do not understand why anyone would be offended that their GP is actually doing his/her job.
Blood pressure readings taken at home are likely to be more accurate, and cause little to no inconvenience to the patient, who simply texts/emails/rings the result through to the surgery.

In my case it wasn't the GP but the pharmacist. I haven't had my BP checked by a doctor in years. It is usually a nurse that takes it.

As Lilylilo stated above, pharmacists get paid for these BP checks.

I am not saying it is a bad thing, but people need to know the real reasons for it.

A series of measurements made at home over a period of a few days can be a lot more use than a single reading taken in the stress of a doctor appointment. And apparently a statistical approach rather than waiting until the patient complains of symptoms is a very effective strategy in prolonging life.

‘Seems fine by me. Obviously the GP surgery is wanting to start monitoring her as she's now over 50. It's in her interests to make this tiny effort on her own behalf. It would be useful for her medical notes to have a baseline BP for future reference. Not sure why you are so cross about it.’

I agree with this, it’s just a simple request, she doesn’t have to do it.

I get requests twice a year for a monitoring reading, a similar letter. I am pleased they are bothering to check it, and would much prefer to send my own reading than to drive to the surgery and get a reading there which would be sky high due to my white coat syndrome. It's always low at home.

Use the monitor in the surgery and then hand it in to the receptionist. if you can’t be bothered to do it yourself.

OP if this had happened to me, I would have emailed back to my GP and asked why in heaven's name he wanted to know my blood pressure as there is nothing wrong with me? (After all, if I didn't feel fit, two years would not have elsapsed since he had last seen me.) Iwould certainly not have run out and bought a sphyg myself, but then, I grew up in a doctor's household and was firmly taught that medical examinations should only be carried out by a professional who is trained to do them properly and interpret the result correctly!

That said, elevated or low blood pressure are both signs that there is something wrong, which may explain why busy doctors and nurses are asking for them to be done.

I very much doubt the BMA would approve of a doctor asking for any form of examination to be done just so that he or she could receive "freebies" from a pharmaceutical company. The ethical standards ( both those of the BMA, the drug companies and doctors and nurses) must certainly have
been lowered drastically if such practices are even possible!

DH did thr BP readings over 7 days at home. I entered them on the in line document. Some readings were v high and some v low. The algorithm ...or whatever it is called... averaged the readings so the final figure was OK!!! Ridiculous as no note was taken of why were some v high and some v low. A box ticking exercise obviously. He heard no more. He actually had heart problems and a mini stroke not long after for which he was hospitalised. And that was another horrific story for another day.

Just ask for mot by the practice nurse