I've just had a letter from my local surgery saying following my suggestion they will now take the pulse of people who attend for annual exams (blood pressure, diabetes etc) to see if they are asymptomatic AF sufferers. A positive result to then be referred for ECG etc.
A small victory.
Well done. We have said for years this could be added to flu jab as well.
Well done! I'm asymptomatic and my AF was discovered through me asking for my BP to be checked the old-fashioned way rather than with the usual automatic machine. Let's hope a few more GP's adopt a similar approach.
Our surgery takes a pulse reading during wellness checks, decided hubby had an irregular beat, sent him for an ECG and he never heard any more! Took mine, said it was regularly irregular, no other checks done and I have Afib. I'm afraid I no longer hold our medics in much regard.
You don't surprise me. It's taken a while for them to take this onboard.
Hi
But best is by the stethoscope or physically not be BP machine.
AF is an irregular heart beat.
BP machines do not register pulse then accurately or sometimes gives an ERR message.
cherio JOY. 75. (NZ)
At the clinic prior we all were weighed, temp and BP taken. My current one does not.
Some BP machines do accurately flag up AF but not the ones my surgery uses! My original suggestion was that a stethoscope was used as that was how mine was detected, but they said that practice nurses are not trained to listen to the heart so said a pulse check would do. I'm not 100% convinced but any initiative to try and detect it is welcome.
That is truly wonderful news 👍 thank you for sharing this positive breakthrough!
Well done!
Let’s hope they actually check the pulse manually and not rely on gadgets - unless it’s an ECG.
I’ve had mine recorded as regular even though I’m in permanent AFib.
I've had my pulse snd/or ekg taken during my annual physical exam for as long as I can remember. They not only note the HR, but whether the pulse is regular or irregular. I'm from the US.
Are you sure this isn't fairly standard practice in the UK as well? They may not call it an atrial fibrillation check, but if they're checking your pulse with their finger or a stethoscope, they should be noting any irregularities and referring those for a follow up EKG.
Jim
Hi, no it's not standard practice here, they check your pulse rate to see if you're ok, not too slow or fast, but that's it.
It used to be that every time you were seen by a doctor or trained registered nurse there would be a pulse check. Nowadays it doesn't happen. So much information available from a manual pulse check not just rate but rhythm, volume etc.
I find it hard to believe that during an exam no one takes a pulse or listens to the heart!! I guess listening to the lungs would be way too much to ask! I believe both could be done in less than a minute!
JimF
My surgery gets heart rate from the BP machine, and says that the nurses aren't qualified to listen to the heart. At this point I just said to them that how they do it is up to them, but please just do it!
I find it staggering that nurses do not use basic methods to listen to the heart and therefore are not qualified. All that training and no basics. It's a disgrace.
Well done - this is more than a small victory! How did you make the suggestion, was it a conversation with the lead GP or some other way?
I hope to persuade my GPs to screen with Kardia since I discovered NICE approved Kardia for NHS in 2018. This could identify asymptomatic AF and also could be loaned out to people with night time vagal type episodes like myself - I went through 9 anxious months of GP visits, 111 calls, ambulance call outs, A&E visits etc. before a private cardiologist finally diagnosed PAF. A waste of time and unnecessary expense for public funds, not to mention the risk of having AF without anticoagulants for months on end.
It's so clear the NHS need to be more proactive ... but how to persuade them?
I'm very keen to know how you approached this ...
Hi, I will reply to this but am just away for a few days, G
thank you that would be brilliant, there's no hurry ...
So I am asymptomatic, and was diagnosed about 15y ago. Initially by my GP incidentally listening to my heart.I now get annual checks for general health, incl full bloods, health questions etc. As this is an in person visit, I suggested they use that occasion to check for AF. I suggested using a stethoscope and that if a nurse had a suspicion it would be flagged up for ECG investigation.
They said they couldn't do that as nurses can't listen to the heart for diagnosis. Rather than get lost down this rabbit hole I just said can you just work out a way of testing it, how you do it is your affair. So they've confirmed they'll check pulses. It took a few letters but got there in the end.
This is so good. Please tell me how it began. Did you first speak with a GP in an appointment, while you were seeing them about AF or another medical issue? Or did you send a letter to the practice with the suggestion?
It took a few letters but got there in the end. How long did it take? Did you address the letters to the lead GP?
I'm not sure a pulse check will catch it (?) and not all BP machines do ... it would be good to know how they plan to do it.
It''s so necessary and so obvious that this should be happening on a very big scale ..
In my annual exam I asked the nurse if the checked for AF, and of course they didn't so I wrote in using the arms-length web portal.they now use. As there is no way to write to one of my dr's unless you have a problem I dressed it up as a medical enquiry (all such are seen by a Dr for triage purposes), but I made it clear I was just trying to make contact.I initially suggested a stethoscope exam, but they said that wouldn't work in reply #1, so I said 'how' wasn't important they should work that out. In reply#2 they confirmed they'd use a pulse as a check.
Using a pulse is recommended on this forum so I guess it must work.
Lead GP? Who? 
no as above I sent it into them as a problem request. My surgery is part of a larger group. They're difficult to contact even though they pretend not to be.
Exciting new opportunity to help patients with AF!
Off to Spain with my good friends - AF and A Flutter!
For my British friends (nothing to do with AF)
breathless increasing in AF what to do? I am Calli111
