Somerset’s Take the Pressure Off hypertension campaign was among the work presented to Minister of State for Health Karin Smyth when she attended a public engagement event in Taunton at the weekend.
Minister Smyth visited the County Ground on Sunday (24 November) when the biggest ever conversation about the future of the NHS came to the South West.
After delivering the opening address at the regional 10 Year Health Plan engagement event – run by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Thinks Insight and Strategy – Minister Smyth heard all about the Take the Pressure Off hypertension campaign, run in partnership by NHS Somerset and Somerset Council’s public health team.
Local nurse Thelma Aquino was on hand to check the Minister’s blood pressure (see picture) while NHS Somerset’s Director of Communications, Charlotte Callen, explained how the campaign is raising awareness of the dangers of hypertension and providing quick and easy blood pressure testing opportunities across the county.
Minister Smyth also visited Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital where she visited the Emergency Department and Dermatology.
More than 100 people from across the region braved the weather to discuss their views of the NHS, share their experiences, and offer their suggestions for delivering an NHS fit for the future.
The public engagement exercise will help shape the government’s 10 Year Health Plan, which will be published in spring 2025 and will be underlined by three big shifts in healthcare:
- hospital to community
- analogue to digital
- sickness to prevention
