Prescribing medication for hypertension

If medication is needed for blood pressure management, this will usually be under the direction of the GP practice. Increasingly, the practice-based or PCN pharmacist may be the lead within the GP surgery for this cohort of patients – so building a relationship between community pharmacy and GP surgery is obviously helpful to both parties.

The pharmacy should use this as an opportunity to support lifestyle interventions and, as mentioned, people with hypertension are eligible for NMS consultations.

Pharmacy dispensary teams should be familiar with the treatments most commonly prescribed for hypertension and able to advise patients by referring to treatment guidelines (see Table 2. See also NICE NG136 and SIGN 149).

Medication adherence 

Adherence is defined as the extent to which a patient’s behaviour with respect to taking medication coincides with agreed recommendations from a healthcare provider.

In asymptomatic conditions such has hypertension, it is important to check for non-adherence as this correlates with a higher risk of CVD events. In addition, it is often a factor when resistant hypertension is identified and requires a patient-centred consultation.

Community pharmacy teams are ideally placed to support patients with longer term management of their condition – helping them to take their medicines at the most convenient time of day to establish a habitual pattern of medication-taking.