Health checks for shoppers

Stressed-out shoppers in Staffordshire are being urged to reduce their chances of a stroke by getting their blood pressure checked for free next month.

For the fourth year running Lichfield Rotary Club and The Stroke Association are working together to help combat high blood pressure, the single biggest factor for stroke. And they will be offering people free blood pressure checks in St Mary's Centre, on the Market Square in Lichfield city centre, on October 13 from 9am to 5pm.

Organisers are hoping to have up to 12 doctors and nurses taking blood pressure measurements throughout Stroke Awareness Day.

The nationwide campaign has proved extremely successful over the past three years, with record numbers of people getting their blood pressure checked.

This year the partners are hoping to encourage more than 30,000 people across the country to take advantage of the free health check.

To promote Stroke Awareness Day, which has been postponed since April, Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant will be joining members of the rotary club at the Cathedral Lodge Hotel on October 6.

Mr Fabricant will be having his blood pressure checked on the day to help maximise the campaign.

Alan Sanders, Rotarian and Stroke Awareness Day organiser, said: "We hope local residents will stop by our stand in St Mary's Centre on October 13 and have their blood pressure measured.

"It will only take a few minutes but it could help save their lives."

Every year an estimated 150,000 people across the country suffer a stroke, and it is one of the top three causes of death and the single largest cause of adult disability.

High blood pressure is the most important casual risk factor for stroke.