Blood Pressure - Outreach Report
The data for Barnet show that an estimated 89,000 people in the borough have high blood pressure Of these, around 39,000 may be undiagnosed. The only way to find out whether you have high blood pressure is to get it measured. We delivered a Community Connectors project to support residents' heart health.
Of the 967 people who came along to our events, 428 received a high blood pressure reading, and 243 received a slightly raised reading. Considerable numbers of people who received high blood pressure readings planned do one or more of the following:
- 28% said they would do more exercise
- 24% planned to see their GP or another health professional
- 19% told us they would change their diet, and some people specifically mentioned reducing their salt intake
- 11% said they would speak to their family or friends about blood pressure
- 10% planned to get help with stress or anxiety
- 5% told us they would quit or reduce alcohol use, and 4% that they
would quit or reduce smoking
One participant said: '[The connector] was very approachable and friendly, they shared personal detail that I can also relate to my health journey, especially around keeping doing what I know, and increasing, and making changes.'
A number of people said that before coming to one of our events they did not know how to read the blood pressure chart, but they understood this now. Some said they were planning to buy a blood pressure monitor as a result of meeting with us, and others told us they would get their blood pressure checked more often.
With this project, we particularly wanted to reach people who are at greater risk of hypertension, or more likely to face health inequalities:
- 56% (n=538) of our participants were from black and minority ethnic
communities, and for 39% (n=378) English was not their first language - 29% (n=278) of people who took part told us they had a long term
health condition
