Thousands of patients to benefit through the national adoption of UCLPartners Proactive Care Frameworks
Through our leadership and the continued dedication of all 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), the national Blood Pressure Optimisation (BPO) programme has enabled the primary care teams of more than 600 PCNs to manage long-term conditions, such as high blood pressure, differently, at scale. As shown in this latest report, by utilising our frameworks the teams can prioritise their clinical activity by stratifying patients who are at highest risk, deploy their wider workforce to reduce the workload for GPs and improve the personalised care offer for their patients.
Dr Jim Moore President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society and GP said: “The Proactive Care Frameworks, at the heart of the National Blood Pressure Optimisation Programme, have enabled primary care to do things differently; transforming how we manage patient care. This has only been possible through the support received from local AHSNs driving this work.”
Evidence shows that optimising treatment for blood pressure and cholesterol can prevent cardiovascular events: one heart attack is prevented over five years for every 100 patients with high blood pressure and one stroke for every 67 patients. And for every 100 patients with pre-existing CVD who are treated with a statin, 10 heart attacks or strokes will be prevented.
Dr Matt Kearney, GP and Executive Clinical Director, Cardiovascular Health at UCLPartners said: “Improving the management of high-risk conditions like blood pressure is a ‘wicked issue’ that has progressed little over several decades, this work demonstrates how together we’re laying strong foundations but this only the start. If we continue the spread and adoption of this work and supporting primary care to optimise blood pressure at scale, we will prevent huge numbers of heart attacks and strokes now and in years to come.”
Case-finding and optimal management for high blood pressure is one of the five clinical areas identified as requiring accelerated improvement in NHS England’s Core20PLUS5. Incidence of high blood pressure within the most deprived communities is roughly double that of the most affluent areas. The BPO programme has helped to tackle such stark health inequalities through a structured and systematic approach.
Dr Bola Owolabi, Director Health Inequalities at NHS England said: “I am delighted to see the work of the AHSNs in supporting colleagues to systematically address hypertension and the explicit focus this programme has on tackling health inequalities. If Integrated Care Boards continue to prioritise support for blood pressure optimisation in communities at greatest risk, this will prevent heart attacks and strokes in these communities and reduce health inequalities due to cardiovascular disease.”
The BPO programme leaves a legacy for future programmes with a wide range of improvement and implementation resources developed both by the central team and individual AHSN teams. Integrated Care Boards have been encouraged to build on this work to deliver substantial and early population health improvement to continue to shift the dial in CVD prevention.