Having your blood pressure monitor tested and calibrated is an important part of maintaining your blood pressure monitor.

The accuracy of your blood pressure monitor is of the utmost importance and faulty monitors may give incorrect blood pressure readings affecting results and diagnostics.

Having your blood pressure monitor tested and calibrated reduces maintenance costs and significantly improves efficiency, allowing your blood pressure monitor’s component parts to work longer at a minimal increase to costs.

Tips on choosing the right company to test and calibrate your blood pressure monitor:

Choose an independent medical equipment testing and calibration company, who will fix your blood pressure monitor rather than condemn it.

The accuracy of your blood pressure monitor is of the utmost importance and faulty blood pressure monitors may give incorrect readings affecting results and diagnostics. Having your blood pressure monitor tested and calibrated ensures complete accuracy, efficiency is improved and maintenance costs are reduced.

Choose an accredited company.

TAG Medical is an ISO 9001 accredited company, underlining the ability to deliver a quality assured service.

Blood Pressure Monitor “Return-To-Base” express service. TAG offers a popular “Return-To-Base” express service for testing and calibrating your monitor.

Service Details

Cost: £19 +vat.
Timescale: 3-5 working days from receipt of unit.
Instructions: Simply send your blood pressure monitor to:
TAG Medical Ltd
1 The Triangle
ng2 Business Park
Nottingham
NG2 1AE
Please also send the blood pressure cuff and a cheque for £19 + vat (£21.85 inc vat) made payable to TAG Medical Ltd who will test and calibrate the unit and send it back to you complete with test certificate and certification label.

Please remember to include your return address and contact details. If the unit requires a charger please send that too. We recommend you send the unit by recorded delivery.

If your blood pressure monitor is found to be operating outside the recommended tolerance levels or is faulty in any other way, TAG Medical will attempt to repair the unit at no extra charge. If it is beyond economic repair, TAG Medical will inform you immediately. TAG Medical is an independent company and does not in any way benefit from this process, ensuring an unbiased and objective service.

There are many blood pressure monitors on the market, but not all of them have been clinically validated for accuracy. The British Hypertension Society (BHS) maintains an up-to-date list of clinically validated blood pressure monitors, which we have reproduced on this page The majority of clinically validated monitors are upper arm monitors, where the cuff is put around the arm, above the elbow. However a number of wrist monitors are now clinically validated, but readings at home may be inaccurate if the wrist is not held at heart level. For this reason, the British Hypertension Society recommends the use of upper arm monitors in preference to wrist monitors.

All monitors that are clinically validated will give a reliable result, regardless of whether they cost £35 or £135. The differences in cost reflect the number of additional features a monitor has (for example the ability to store previous readings or speak out readings). But none of the extra features is necessary for an accurate reading, only that the monitor is clinically validated.

Where to buy a blood pressure monitor

Many shops and chemists stock blood pressure monitors but you will find these models cheaper online from medical equipment supply specialist such as Medisave

Cuff size:

If you have very large or very small arms you may need a smaller or larger sized cuff – ask your doctor or nurse for advice. If different sizes are available for any models they are listed as:  small , standard and large.

Resperate

This device is not clinically validated but reports from the USA show that when used in conjunction with existing treatments resperate does help to lower BP by encourging breathing control.

up-to-date list of clinically validated blood pressure monitors,

The British Hypertension Society (BHS) maintains an up-to-date list of clinically validated monitors, which we have reproduced below.

A and D Instruments monitors (Small, Standard and Large cuffs available to buy)

•    A and D Instruments UA-704
•    A and D Instruments UA-705
•    A and D Instruments UA-767
•    A and D Instruments UA-779
•    A and D Instruments UA-787
•    A and D Instruments UA-767 Plus
•    A and D Instruments UA-767 Plus Memory
•    A and D Instruments UA-774
•    A and D Instruments UA-767PC
•    A and D Instruments UA-767V
•    A and D Instruments UA-767P-BT

Microlife monitors (Standard  and Large cuffs available to buy)

•    Microlife 3AG1
•    Microlife – As easy as 123
•    Microlife BP 3BTO-A
•    Microlife BP A100
•    Microlife 3BTO-A (2) with two different sized cuffs provided that can also be used during pregnancy
• Microlife BP 3AC1-1
•    Microlife BP A100 Plus
•    Microlife BP 3AC1-1PC
•    Microlife WatchBP – details awaited

Omron monitors (Small, Standard and Large upper arm cuffs available to buy. Wrist monitor cuffs fit wrists 13.5-21.5cm)

•    Omron M1 Plus
•    Omron M2 Compact
•    Omron MX2 Basic
•    Omron MX3 Plus
•    Omron M4-I
•    Omron M6
•    Omron M6 Comfort
•    Omron M7
•    Omron M10-IT
•    Omron R6 (Wrist monitor)
•    Omron R7 (Wrist monitor)
•    Omron 705CP-II
•    Omron 637-IT (Wrist monitor)
•    Omron 705IT

more monitors…

The ongoing campaign to eliminate mercury from medical devices continues to expand and now the challenge has become global. A new campaign hopes to encourage greater use of digital thermometers to lower the toxic risks associated with mercury models.

A combination of automatic blood pressure monitors that have been validated by impartial third parties and a growing concern for the manual inaccuracies of listening for a pulse with a stethoscope when measuring blood pressure with mercury blood pressure monitors has promoted increased production of accurate, affordable, mercury-free medical devices especially monitors for home users.

The British Hypertension Society produces a list of validated machine suitable for both clinical and home use.  Soon all the monitors on this list will be automatic digital blood pressure monitors – available from medical supply specialist such as Medisave who already only offer digital and aneroid monitors on their web site.

Switch to Digital Thermometers for Clinical and Home Use

Mercury in other medical instruments.

A global partnership coordinated by the World Health Authority has announced that it plans to eradicate mercury from health care organisations with an initial target of replacing over seventy % of all mercury blood pressure monitors in the next decade.

In the US and Europe, regulations and efforts by concerned pressure groups have resulted many hospitals to stop using medical devices that contain mercury.

The WHO/Health Care Without Harm partnership focuses solely on thermometers and sphygmomanometers, which are widely used and have viable alternatives.

One of the most common  medical instruments that contains mercury is the thermometer.

Mercury thermometers are still widely used throughout the world.  1000′s of thermometers  break over the course of a year in hospitals, releasing mercury, a potent toxin that spreads quickly.

Digital thermometers are both accurate and easy to use so the resistance to changing from mercury thermometers should be small. New digital thermometers are however more expensive.

It is forecast that as the quantities produced increases, the costs will fall. and it is hoped that once hospitals calculate the cost of mercury thermometer breakage including the proper cleaning up after the breaks, the switch becomes a minor cost issue.

Encouraging people to invest in digital thermometers for home use is still a challenge in the developing world, but as with the old style blood pressure monitors mercury thermometers are being phased out so they are harder to find.

How to tell if a thermometer contains mercury

If a thermometer has a silver bulb, it contains mercury; if the bulb is any other color, it is mercury-free.

You can see a wide selection of clinically approved digital thermometers and medical thermometers here.

For a full explanation of the impact of mercury please see this article – http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/push-to-replace-mercury-thermometers-is-going-global

UK health awareness organisations are urging more health professionals to support home blood pressure monitoring as an additional way of keeping an eye on patients’ blood pressure.

Home monitoring can be a great way to help people with high blood pressure feel more in control of their condition,

It enables them to keep track of their blood pressure between visits to their doctor or nurse and also helps them to see what effect lifestyle changes and taking their medication are having.

Self-checking is a great way to keep a track of your blood pressure between checks by a medical professional.

Using a monitor at home may also show whether your readings are higher in the doctor’s surgery than at home (known as hypertension – white coat effect).

Many people with high blood pressure find that home monitoring helps them to feel more in control of their condition. If you have high blood pressure, talk to your doctor before starting home monitoring so that they can be part of the process.

How you measure your blood pressure can affect the accuracy of results. To help, the you can read the following guidelines on measuring your blood pressure at home.

How to choose a blood pressure monitor

Many blood pressure monitors are available but make sure you choose one that is clinically validated. Such monitors have been shown in trials to give accurate results.

The British Hypertension Society publishes a list of clinically validated blood pressure monitors.

For continued updates from this blog get the blood pressure feed