Training and referral patterns for hypertension in the UK: huge demand for an untrained work force

In the UK, the majority (90%) of hypertension is managed in primary care. Yet, for the 10% who require secondary-care input, there is no specialist register for doctors who manage hypertension. There is a mismatch across the nations with regards to access to secondary care for management of complex hypertension cases. Heterogeneity exists in terms of local specialist services, referral pathways, and specialties overseeing care. We polled across primary care in the UK to assess accessibility to a local specialist hypertension clinic, the clinical reasons for referral and the specialty referred to. Cardiology was by far and away the leading specialty for referrals. Yet the vast majority of cardiology trainees in the UK are receiving minimal, if any, specialist training in hypertension. A cardiology registrar is likely to spend substantially more days on-call for general medicine than the amount of specialist clinics they can attend in hypertension. We are facing a major deficit in the specialist management of hypertension if the trainees of today are not ready to provide the required expertise and oversight for the complex cases of tomorrow.