Dr. Susan O'Dwyer:

The short answer is "Yes". Pharmacists are already working in this space. Almost every pharmacy will take your blood pressure. However, 24-hour blood pressure assessments are being done in practice. There are pharmacies that include detection of atrial fibrillation as part of that assessment. Those people are then referred to their GP either to initiate therapy or to adjust their therapy if the readings suggest that. A pharmacy is an accessible location. We have the ability to do this and we are doing it. Unfortunately, it is not equitable. Currently those services are only provided to people with the ability to pay for them. If they were provided to anyone on the basis of clinical need, that would probably improve access and the rate of detection and hence improve outcomes.