Hypertension Case-finding Service (HCF)
This page contains information about the Hypertension Case-Finding Service which was commissioned as an Advanced service from 1st October 2021.
In public-facing communications, the service is described as the NHS Blood Pressure Check Service.
Latest update
New patient-facing website to promote NHS pharmacy clinical services (22nd January 2026)
Community Pharmacy England has launched a patient-facing website to promote several of the key Advanced services that pharmacy teams provide and to direct patients to pharmacies in England that provide these services.
The website (communitypharmacy.org.uk) provides information about the following three services:
- Pharmacy First Service (clinical pathways);
- Hypertension Case-Finding Service (publicly known as the Blood Pressure Check Service); and
- Pharmacy Contraception Service.
There is a separate page for each of the services, providing patients with information about the individual services and directing them to the NHS website to find a pharmacy that offers the service.
This website can be used by other healthcare providers such as GP practices and by Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) to provide information on these services and direct patients to pharmacies in England that offer them.
Read more about the website and view resources to promote this to your GP practices
On 31st March 2025, the details of the contractual settlement for 2025/26 were announced, which included changes to the Hypertension Case-Finding Service.
As part of those negotiations, it was agreed that the service specification for the Hypertension Case-Finding Service will be updated to clarify patient eligibility requirements, e.g. where people request frequent measurement of their blood pressure (which is outside the scope of the service) and groups of patients that general practices can appropriately refer to the service for clinic checks.
NHS England are working on revisions to the service specification and we will let pharmacy owners know when the updated service specification is published via our usual communications channels.
NHS England will also consider whether alternative approaches to ABPM can be taken to support the potential diagnosis of hypertension, where the patient does not wish to have ABPM. This could include loan of a BP meter to a patient to take BP readings over a period of a week.