NHS England has said that hundreds of thousands of people will be able to test their blood pressure at home, thanks to lifesaving monitors on the health service.

The devices are being made available to 220,000 people who have been diagnosed with uncontrolled high blood pressure and who could benefit from regular checks. It is hoped that the move will help to prevent 2,200 heart attacks and almost 3,300 strokes over five years.

More than 65,000 blood pressure monitors have already been delivered to patients and are similar to those used in GP practices. The machine is wrapped around a patient’s upper arm to measure their blood pressure reading and they can then send the reading to their GP to review by telephone, email or through a digital remote monitoring platform.

Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and National Medical Director of Primary Care for the NHS said: “It’s vital that people with high blood pressure keep track of their levels, so they can report any significant changes that could indicate a potentially deadly stroke or heart attack, and this simple but lifesaving innovation offers people efficient and convenient care. By using these monitors, and reporting the readings to local teams, patients are able to quickly and easily update GP teams with a regular snapshot of their blood pressure health. These simple checks will help us to save lives.”

It is advised that all adults over 40 have their blood pressure checked at least once every five years.