If you have been asked to carry out a 7 day home blood pressure (BP) diary and you do not have a BP machine of your own there is a couple of ways to loan one.

You can speak to the Reception team who will been able to help organise a loan of one of our machine. If all our machine are out you will be placed on a waiting list.

The other way to loan a BP machine is from Suffolk Communities libraries. If you are a member of Suffolk Community libraries you can loan a BP machine for  up to three weeks and four weeks if registered on the mobile library services. They will ask you to sign a user agreement.

Once you have the BP machine the following is advice on how best to the use the machine:

• Avoid eating, exercising or bathing 30 minutes before testing
• Relax in a calm environment for five minutes before testing
• Do not stand while testing – sit in a relaxed position with your arm resting in your lap or on a table in front of you
• Do not talk or move during testing
• Do not test near strong electromagnetic interference such as microwave ovens or mobile phones
• Wait for at least three minutes before repeating a test
• Try to measure your blood pressure at the same time each day – first thing in the morning before you do anything else is best as you are relaxed and the conditions are the same each day. This will provide consistent results which can be compared to establish a trend
• Test comparisons should only be made when readings are made on the same arm, in the same position and at the same time of the day.