Audit of screening for hypertension in general practice.

An audit of a practice which has a policy of opportunistic screening for raised blood pressure showed that 80 per cent of patients born between 1930-44 had been screened in the last five years. Patients who had not been screened were identified and contacted; this increased the percentage screened to 87 per cent. Only four possible new hypertensives were identified. It is suggested that the effort and expense of achieving this result was not worthwhile and that opportunistic screening is the cheapest and easiest method of screening for high blood pressure.