“High blood pressure can be reduced through medication and controlled by changes in diet and lifestyle. Take action, get tested and change your lifestyle – you may prevent a stroke.”

High blood pressure is called the “silent killer” because there are often few warning signs that anything is wrong.
More than 16million Britons are known to have high blood pressure but millions more remain undiagnosed and untreated.

When the Stroke Association offered free testing to 20,000 patients, they found that one in four had high blood pressure which they knew nothing about.

From these figures, they estimate that 25 per cent of the population could be at risk.

The Stroke Association is launching its campaign by offering free tests either through the charity or at 400 Rotary Clubs.

The main testing day will be April 28 – this Saturday – but many more days will be held throughout the summer. Patients are also being urged to see their GP for a check-up if they have not had a test recently.

Dr Thomson Robertson, director of Trent Stroke Research Network at Leicester University Hospitals Trust, said: “High blood pressure is the most important modifiable risk factor for the prevention of first-ever and recurrent strokes.

“It can be reduced by taking tablets, but also by altering lifestyle factors that we are all able to do ourselves – diet, weight, exercise, smoking and alcohol.

“Of course, to do this, we all need to know our blood pressure. Ask yourself if you know yours. If not, get
it checked – today.”

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, agreed that the public should take immediate action to get their blood pressure levels checked.

“People lead busy lives but getting your blood pressure checked, either by your GP or at a Stroke Association testing day, is quick, simple and could change your life for the better,” he said. Strokes cause more disability than any other medical condition. A quarter of a million patients are living with long-term disability as a result of strokes and they cost the economy £7billion a year.

Despite being considered a condition which strikes older people, around a quarter of victims are under 65.

Although strokes are so common, a report out last year suggested that  around 500 of the deaths each year were “needlessly” caused by a lack of specialist NHS care.

The report by the Public Accounts Committee also said there was a shortage of specialist NHS stroke centres cap­able of offering patients the right treatment quickly.

It said thousands could have the damage to their brain reduced if the condition was treated with the same urgency as heart attacks.

For a free blood pressure test, you should contact the Stroke Association or call your local Rotary International organisation for details on 01789 765411 or go to http://www.rotary-ribi.org.uk.


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