About the Hypertension programme

This programme incorporates up to date guidelines and evidence-based aims specifically addressing the needs for front-line primary care colleagues in the diagnosis and management of hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, including familial, hypercholesterolaemia, atrial fibrillation, dyslipidaemia and other cardiovascular disease related conditions. The programme consists of a film and is accompanied by a short quiz to test knowledge and understanding of the topic.

This educational programme was funded by Health Education England and developed in partnership with NHS England & NHS Improvement, and Public Health England.

Why focus on hypertension?
There is huge underdiagnosis and inaccurate diagnosis of hypertension, which calls for the improvement of treatment for hypertension and the NHS Long Term Plan addresses this by making hypertension one of the top three cardiovascular priorities, alongside atrial fibrillation and lipid management. The target is that over the next 10 years, 80% of the expected prevalence of hypertension should be diagnosed and of those diagnosed, 80% treated to target as per NICE guidelines – which is significantly above what is being achieved.

What are the key learning outcomes and objectives?
This hypertension upskilling learning module has been accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), therefore, if you are a GP you would be entitled to learning credits.

 You can expect to achieve the following learning outcomes:

• Understand of NICE/European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidance on establishing a diagnosis of hypertension
• Recognise blood pressure targets depending on co-morbidity
• Understand the Hypertension Treatment algorithms and be able to follow accordingly
• Be able to assess cardiovascular risk and target organ damage – introducing Joint British Societies recommendations on the prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and British Heart Foundation’s “heart age”
• Be able to recognise electrocardiogram (ECG) changes in people with hypertension
• Be able to identify secondary hypertension
• Be able to assess your level of knowledge via a short informal question and answer session after the training has been delivered.

The learning objectives are to identify:

• The Global Burden of Disease for premature avoidable cardiovascular deaths and the opportunity for addressing better hypertension management
• The epidemiology of hypertension and association with heart disease and stroke
• The risk factors for essential hypertension
• The pathophysiological consequences of chronic uncontrolled hypertension – direct and target organ damage
• The importance of screening for hypertension
• Atrial fibrillation and its intrinsic relationship with hypertension
• How to establish a diagnosis of hypertension
• The thresholds for referral to secondary care
• Lifestyle interventions for prevention and/or management of hypertension
• How to assess cardiovascular risk 10-year risk vs lifetime risk (Qrisk2 vs JBS3)
• Introduction to the concept of “heart age”
• How to address broad cardiovascular risk factors and co-morbidities – how they influence management of hypertension.
• The use of pharmacological treatment
• Sprint trial implications and the subsequent update of the European Society of Cardiology Guidance for hypertension
• Specific aspects of management of hypertension in patients with Type 2 Diabetes
• Isolated systolic hypertension
• When to suspect secondary hypertension and diagnostic work up
• Diagnosis and management of patients with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia.

Clinicians who attended the face to face training programme commented as follows:

• ‘Inspiring to improve treatment’;
• ‘Very relevant with practical application, essential learning, excellent coaching style’;
• ‘The best training I have been to for a long time for changing my practice’.

This educational programme was funded by Health Education England.
Developed in partnership with NHS England & NHS Improvement and Public Health England

More information

Download – Hypertension filming handout >

Download – NICE guidelines >

How to access

In order to access the Hypertension programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.

Register >

To view the Hypertension programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.

View >

Not an NHS organisation?

If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.

To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.

Registering large numbers of users

If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Hypertension programme, please contact elfh directly.

Organisations wishing to use their own LMS

For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.

More information

Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.