How to Submit a BP Reading

Taking your Blood Pressure at Home

• Don’t smoke, exercise or drink caffeine in the 30 minutes before your reading
• Place the arm cuff just above your elbow
• Keep still and quiet while you take your reading

Taking a one-off Blood Pressure Reading

• Take three readings, each about one to two minutes apart and submit the average using our form here

Taking a 7 day Blood Pressure Reading

• Take a reading as above in the morning and in the evening for 7 days.
• You will need to record all the values.
• You need to submit the average over the week.  Ignore day 1 (as per NICE guidelines) and any values that are outliers (ie very different than all the others).
• Please submit the average using our form here

Tools to help you work out the average reading

• You can input the values here and it will work out your average for you.
• You can download this useful spreadsheet to record your values which will give you your average at the end. 7 day Home BP Monitoring Spreadsheet

If your reading is over 160/100 please call us.

If you are pregnant you should contact us or call 111 if your reading is over 140/90.

Seek emergency care if your blood pressure reading is 180/120 or higher AND you have any of the following symptoms, which may be signs of organ damage. 

• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Numbness or weakness
• Change in vision
• Difficulty speaking
• Severe headache.

Note the chart below is a rough guide. Slightly higher BP readings are normal when you are over 80.