Mike Penning to have blood pressure check to support national 'Know your numbers!®' week

Mike Penning supports UK charity the Blood Pressure Association by having a free blood pressure check during national Know your Numbers!® Week.

Mike Penning MP for Hemel Hempstead is supporting UK charity the Blood Pressure Association by having a free blood pressure check during national Know your Numbers!® Week (10-16 September).

The MP will be visiting branches of the Lloyds Pharmacy in Queens Square, Adeyfield, at 11am on Monday 10th September to highlight the importance of knowing your blood pressure numbers during the nation’s biggest annual blood pressure testing event run by the Blood Pressure Association.

Lloyds Pharmacy is among more than 2,700 ‘Pressure Stations’ nationwide, including health clubs, pharmacies, GP surgeries, supermarkets and shopping centres, offering free checks to all adults as part of the event.

Uncontrolled and undetected high blood pressure is the biggest cause of death and disability through stroke, heart attack and heart disease. In a bid to encourage more people to have a blood pressure check, the BPA has themed this year’s event ‘Finding the Missing Millions’. This is because 16 million adults in the UK have high blood pressure, yet 5.3 million aren’t aware of it because there are no symptoms.

Mike Penning said: “I am supporting the Blood Pressure Association’s Know your Numbers! Week because it’s shocking to realise that one in three adults has high blood pressure, yet millions of them don’t know it. High blood pressure will affect many Hemel residents so I urge as many people as possible have a free blood pressure to reduce their risk.”

Sue Massey, the Blood Pressure Association’s Head of Communications, said: “We are delighted that Mike Penning MP is helping the BPA to raise awareness of this serious health issue.

“Getting a blood pressure check is free, quick and painless and high blood pressure can be controlled once it’s detected. We hope that everyone takes this opportunity to ‘know their numbers’ - in the same way they know their height and weight - and takes action to lower them if found to be raised.”

To find out more about high blood pressure, or for a free information pack on the condition, visit the BPA’s website www.bpassoc.org.uk or call 020 8772 4994.