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The decision to bar patients from accessing a pharmacy blood pressure check if they have had one in the last five years is “retrograde,” pharmacy bodies have warned.

Following last week’s publication of the updated terms of the Hypertension Case-Finding Service, the National Pharmacy Association has said the move undercuts ambitions to tackle heart disease and stroke and called on the NHS to pause its plans “immediately” before the changes come into effect on September 3.

The NPA also called for a full impact assessment to be conducted before changes, which would only allow ‘repeat’ BP checks in “exceptional” circumstances that must be recorded by the pharmacy, are rolled out.

NPA chief executive Henry Gregg said: “Imposing a five-year limit on pharmacy’s ability to check blood pressure will undermine the Government’s ambition to promote health prevention and could leave health problems undiagnosed.

“It’s a clear retrograde step that flies in the face of efforts to prevent disease.

“If the NHS has evidence that blood pressure checks are being done unnecessarily frequently on some individuals, they need to take this up with the individual contractors rather than put in place arbitrary rules that undermine our shared goal of reducing the number of cases of undiagnosed hypertension.

“Pharmacies need the freedom to make public health interventions without constantly worrying about whether they will be reimbursed for their work. If some people are checked more frequently than every five years, that is a small price to pay.”

The Independent Pharmacies Association described the new five-year rule as “too blunt” and said it risks missing patients whose health may have changed during that period, calling for a two-year limit to be introduced instead.

“Blood pressure is not static, and patients who have a healthy reading at one point may go on to develop hypertension as they get older or as their health, weight, lifestyle or medication changes,” said the IPA.

“A two-year interval would provide pharmacies with more opportunities to identify these changes without turning the service into routine monitoring.”

IPA chief executive Leyla Hannbeck warned the move could also limit the number of patients who can access ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), commenting: "We also want to see pharmacies doing more meaningful case-finding and more ABPM where clinically appropriate.

“ABPM provides a much richer picture of a patient's blood pressure and can help ensure people receive the right diagnosis and treatment.

“If we dramatically reduce the number of people who have an initial check, we will likely also reduce the number of people identified as needing ABPM in the first place.”

NHS England commented: “Thousands of pharmacies across England will continue to offer blood pressure checks in line with clinical guidance set by NICE and as part of NHS efforts to spot people at risk of hypertension.

“Pharmacies deliver 300,000 blood pressure checks a month and anyone aged 40 or over who hasn’t had a check in the last five years is encouraged to come forward .”