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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want take my own blood pressure for GP appointment

123 replies

user1471593137 · 09/08/2022 11:47

Is this a thing now? I have a telephone appointment next week and have been asked to sort my own BP reading before.

OP posts:
GreenFingersWouldBeHandy · 09/08/2022 23:16

Oh grow up. It’s not difficult to do, takes about a minute and eases pressure on your local surgery. You can also take readings while you’re relaxed at home instead of stressed at the surgery. You can borrow a monitor.

ZealAndArdour · 09/08/2022 23:20

Imagine if all the diabetics went off like this and said they were prepared to check their own blood sugars and wanted it done in the surgery just because they prefer to be face to face with someone.

DevonLulu · 09/08/2022 23:21

Sidge · 09/08/2022 17:14

Oh dear god. We are not trying to get out of seeing patients. Do you seriously not realise we’re under such pressure, and checking a blood pressure isn’t something that MUST be done by a HCP.

You checking your own BP can

  • save you a trip to the surgery. Given current fuel prices a lot of people appreciate this.
  • save us using an appointment that can be freed up for something that CAN’T be done at home.
  • saves time so we can focus on more important stuff.
As for reading up on treatment or medication options and choosing a preferred option this is called being actively involved in your healthcare decision making. It is A Good Thing.

This. 1000 times over.

The NHS Is on its knees. For goodness sakes, just take your own blood pressure. It’s not rocket science.

GP’s are working so bloody hard just to keep the thing afloat, your contribution really isn’t going to put you out much!!

DevonLulu · 09/08/2022 23:23

Allmarbleslost · 09/08/2022 11:58

It's another way for doctors to get out of seeing patients isn't it? My dh was told to go and buy a blood pressure monitor by his surgery. I'm not sure why would happen if we couldn't afford it.

Doctors are working harder than ever. Just take the time to ask them!

if you can’t afford one then the surgery will most likely lend you one.

we really have become an entitled nation!

FredaFox · 09/08/2022 23:24

purplecorkheart · 09/08/2022 11:49

I assume that it is to avoid white coats syndrome. It also can show if you have higher readings at day vs night etc

My mum has done her own bp for the gp for years it's not a new request. She always says she gets white coat syndrome and looking at her results she's recently recorded v when the district nurses die it it's true she's an ex nurse too and said it's a very real thing that happens

Simonjt · 09/08/2022 23:26

Its really frustrating, my husband is having to get private prescriptions because our GP surgery won’t measure his BP, despite the fact that he has arthrogryposis so we aren’t able to measure it at home. They don’t give the slightest shit that it is discrimination.

wheresmymojo · 09/08/2022 23:28

I bought a monitor - they're like £20-£30 on Amazon and quite handy to have

wheresmymojo · 09/08/2022 23:30

Although between having a BP monitor at home and the oxygen monitor and thermometer I got in the run up to COVID I'll be giving myself white coat syndrome soon Grin

AuntTwacky · 09/08/2022 23:35

YABU it's way better taking it yourself!

PointerSister · 09/08/2022 23:46

Home blood pressure readings have been recommended for years. Mostly been either lending machines or doing ambulatory readings (24hr BP monitors). This is not a new thing. The demand has gone through the roof since the pandemic and with demand so high/ people not bring machines back etc it is a way of monitoring a very serious health condition yourself 🤷‍♀️

Suspiciously · 09/08/2022 23:53

Home readings are far more accurate, white coat high blood pressure is so much more common (?pandemic related) and the last thing anyone wants to do is over treat your blood pressure, resulting in more meds for you and you potentially falling over in the street and breaking your hip/wrist/ankle etc due to low blood pressure!!

Runmybathforme · 09/08/2022 23:57

Allmarbleslost · 09/08/2022 11:58

It's another way for doctors to get out of seeing patients isn't it? My dh was told to go and buy a blood pressure monitor by his surgery. I'm not sure why would happen if we couldn't afford it.

No it isn't " another way of GPs getting out of seeing patients ". It saves time and eliminates ' white coat syndrome '.
GPs wish they could see more patients face to face, but it simply isn't possible for a variety of reasons. Patient care these days relies on patients taking responsibility for some of their own healthcare. Pharmacists provide many services like this .

MagratsDanglyCharms21 · 10/08/2022 00:05

Just be aware that frequent Error Reads occur with automatic BP machines when you demonstrate an arrhythmia. So in this instance DO get a professional healthcheck. So no, not always 'more accurate'.

BigWoollyJumpers · 10/08/2022 11:32

WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps · 09/08/2022 18:57

@thebellagio

This is exactly the type of thing that SHOULD be done at home. It’s quick and easy and it frees doctors up to see people with other needs that can’t be treated at home. And if your blood pressure reading shows you need to see an HCP, you’ll be further along the pathway than the initial appointment.

But why? It has never EVER been done at home before the pandemic. Why NOW, is it so utterly VITAL that blood pressure is done at home by the patient, with their own machine that they have to purchase themselves? Confused

What next? Doing your own blood tests and popping the blood into a vial and posting them to the GP? Getting your own stethoscope to check your heart rate? Getting a canula and a drip to rehydrate yourself if you've had a tummy bug?

Not everyone finds it so easy to do things like taking their own blood pressure, and if the OP wants a nurse to do it, then she should be allowed to have a nurse do it. If some people (like you clearly, and some others on here) are able to do it at home, then bingo! NHS time and money saved. Not everyone wants to do it themselves, and some can't do it.

So they should be entitled to get it done FOR them by a HCP. (Or if they have one, the little pod in the surgery that has a blood pressure machine, to enable people to do it without waiting for a HCP.) No-one should be forced - or expected to get their own blood pressure machine to do it themselves at home!

All this putting people off going to the GP when the patient would prefer to see a GP or HCP face to face really boils my piss tbh. Sick to death of 'covid' being used as an excuse now, for slack service, and brushing people off. Yes yes yes, some GP practices are run ragged yada yada, but not ALL are, and there is definitely an element of brushing people off because they CBA. And it has all stemmed from the Covid Pandemic. It's made some NHS services lacklustre, slack, and mediocre.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. All of these changes were already in motion before the pandemic. The pandemic brought them forward, and encouraged reluctant GP's to engage with modern practice. DH has been working with the NHS on digital solutions for years. It is the modern world, the NHS and it's users are slow on the uptake, but those things that have already been introduced are working really well, reduce costs, are more efficient, put patients back in control, and enable users to to get on with their lives.

cptartapp · 10/08/2022 16:17

WeAllHaveWings · 09/08/2022 20:36

When I started on blood pressure medication 3-4 years ago I suggested to dr I buy a home machine to check it and they told me not to add they were unreliable and would need to be regularly calibrated.

Not true. When ours go kaput we walk over to the chemist and buy another.
Calibrated annually only.

WeAllHaveWings · 10/08/2022 18:09

cptartapp · 10/08/2022 16:17

Not true. When ours go kaput we walk over to the chemist and buy another.
Calibrated annually only.

Show quote history

I can only go by what 2 separate Drs at my surgery told me 🤷‍♀️ Are you advising I either ignore my own Drs or to tell them a MN poster told me they are wrong? 🤣

If they told me it was ok to buy one for home I would do it, I love a gadget and hate wasting time going to appointments for a 5 minute check so it would be a win-win for me, but they both explicitly told me not to so I can only assume it is a matter of professional opinion and/or practice policy and not True/False facts.

LadyWithLapdog · 10/08/2022 18:40

@WeAllHaveWings ask again. Things and advice change over time.

cptartapp · 12/08/2022 19:27

LadyWithLapdog · 10/08/2022 18:40

@WeAllHaveWings ask again. Things and advice change over time.

This.

luckylavender · 12/08/2022 19:36

Seriously I'm an intelligent well educated woman & I don't find it at all easy to do.

bruffin · 12/08/2022 19:48

Our BP machine is the same as the one the nurse uses, but i never used it until the Nurse said my BP was stroke level. I did manage to persuade her that i did have white coat syndrome and i was really stressed. She wanted me to go to a&e. She sent me round the chemist to collect BP medication and said i had to take BP machine with me for a holiday and take BP twice a day.
Our GP has a form to submit BP online as well if you are worried.

My watch also does my BP , its less reliable but it gets recalibrated monthly and its a guide

bruffin · 12/08/2022 20:58

luckylavender · 12/08/2022 19:36

Seriously I'm an intelligent well educated woman & I don't find it at all easy to do.

whats difficult about, stick the cuff on your arm as per booklet and press button.

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