Hypertension Case-Finding Service

(note – this service is referred to as the NHS Blood Pressure Check Service in public-facing communications).

The Hypertension Case-Finding Service was launched on 1st October 2021 as an Advanced Service.

An updated service specification came into effect from the 3rd September 2026 to better reflect the service’s primary purpose of hypertension case-finding. A summary of the changes can be found here.

The service aims to:

• Identify people aged 40 years or older with high blood pressure (who have previously not had a confirmed diagnosis of hypertension), and to refer them to general practice to confirm diagnosis and for appropriate management. (Note; people under the age of 40 may also be included in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of pharmacy staff.
• Following signposting of a patient from their general practice, undertake clinic blood pressure measurements for adults who are aged 40 years and over, without a prior diagnosis of hypertension and who have not had their blood pressure checked in the last 5 years.
• Offer ambulatory blood pressure (ABPM) checks to adults who are aged 40 years and over at the request of other healthcare professionals such as general practices, optometrists and dentists (generally following clinic checks undertaken at other healthcare settings).
• Promote healthy behaviours to patients.

Key Information

The Community Pharmacy England website (CPE) is the best place to look for all the up-to-date information on this service and for useful information and resources to support provision of this service, however, for ease of reference some of the key resources are listed below:

• Annex A – Blood- Pressure Check Process Flowchart
• Annex B – Guidance on Clinic Blood Pressure Checks
• Annex C – Clinic BP Flowchart
• Annex D – ABPM Flowchart
• Annex E – Summary Table of Action

Providing the Service

Patient eligibility: the service specification lists the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the service.

General practice signposting or referrals: practices may want to signpost patients to the pharmacy for a clinic blood pressure check. The service can now only be used to provide clinic checks to adults aged 40 years and over without a prior diagnosis of hypertension who have not had their blood pressure checked in the last 5 years.

Practices can also refer patients requiring ABPM, including those who have already had a diagnosis of hypertension; in this scenario it is recommended that this referral is made electronically to the pharmacy.

Download a GP practice referral template 

Optician and dental practice signposting or referrals: NHSE has commissioned some opticians and dental practices across several areas to work with community pharmacy to identify patients suitable for the Hypertension Case-Finding Service. These practices can refer patients who have been identified with raised blood pressure to the community pharmacy service.

Guidance

• CPE Briefing, August 2026: Changes to the HCFS Specification.
• NICE Guidance 136 – Hypertension in adults: diagnosis and management
• Hypertension Case-Finding Service – Focus on ABPMs v2

Resources

• HCFS – A Briefing for Pharmacy Teams
• Pharmacy Staff Training Checklist
• HCFS- Pharmacy Owner Implementation Checklist
• Hypertension Patient FAQs Leaflet – September 2025

Engagement with Local GP Practices

• A letter/email template to notify GP practices that the pharmacy is providing the HCFS is available here.
• For pharmacies already providing the HCFS, a letter / email template to notify GP practices of changes to the service is available here.
• A briefing to provide information for general practice teams on the HCFS is here.

7 Steps to Ensure Accurate BP – Resource

These resources have been created in collaboration with some of the local LMCs in West Yorkshire. The documents can be used by all healthcare professionals involved in BP checks. A non LMC branded version is also available below.

7 Steps to Ensure an Accurate Blood Pressure with QR Code

7 Steps to Ensure an Accurate Blood Pressure – YORLMC

7 Steps to Ensure an Accurate Blood Pressure – Kirklees LMC

7 Steps to Ensure an Accurate Blood Pressure – Leeds LMC

7 Steps to Ensure an Accurate Blood Pressure – Wakefield LMC

Claiming Payment

Data from the NHS assured IT system will be submitted to the MYS portal via an application programming interface and will be used by the NHSBSA to populate a payment claim within the MYS portal.

The pharmacy owner needs to review this payment claim and then submit it. Claims for payment for this service should be made monthly, via the MYS portal and no later than three months from the claim period for the chargeable activity provided.

Data will only be submitted by the NHS assured IT system for completed service provisions. For example, where a clinic check has been undertaken and an ABPM is required, which will be undertaken in the following month, the data for the complete service provision will be reported once both elements of the service (clinic check and ABPM) have been completed.

Blood Pressure Check Information Leaflet – English to Multiple Language Translation

The information leaflet to support the Hypertension Service is now available in several different languages and can be accessed via the links below.

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Arabic

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Bengali

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – English

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Farsi

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – French

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Gujarati

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Kurdish (Sorani)

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Latvian

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Lithuanian

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Pashto

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Polish

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Portuguese

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Punjabi

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Romanian

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Simplified Chinese (Mandarin)

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Slovak

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Spanish

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Russian

Hypertension Translation Leaflet – Urdu

Frequently Asked Questions

The Community Pharmacy England website is a great source of information and resources for pharmacy teams. This includes a useful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and answers page which are updated on an ongoing basis:

Hypertension Case-Finding FAQs

Last Updated: 7th September 2026