New blood pressure target for diabetes

According to diabetes news today, practice nurses face having to meet much tighter blood pressure targets when it comes to patients with diabetes . NICE have adjusted their indicators, including two potential changes to the Quality and Outcomes Framework that relate to BP control amongst diabetics .
The new target blood pressure levels may be hard to meet for practice nurses, although they are in line with NICE guidance on diabetes . At this stage, the percentage of diabetics needed to meet these targets remains unclear.
One diabetes expert, Julie Widdowso, reportedly commented: “A higher target of 150/90mmHg gives the wrong impression to both professionals and patients of the importance of maintaining an acceptable blood pressure level in patients with diabetes. Although these are very challenging targets to meet and need a lot of medication and support, evidence has shown for a number of years that these are the targets we should be working towards.”