Sheffield health: Fades barbers and Lux salon sign up to help cut blood pressure as well as hair

When you get your hair done at two well known Sheffield business, they’ll also help you take a bit off your blood pressure.

Fades barbershop Abbeydale Road, and Lux beauty salon, on London Road, are both piloting a new scheme run with local doctors which they are hoping will help open up healthcare in their communuties, and could potientially save lives.

If it works, it could be expended right across the city.

Both are working with Dr Kirsty Goddard, a partner at Porter Brook Medical Centre, who is working on the scheme, and who says the idea has previously been run successfully in other countries, saving lives in America.

It has been set up by the City Centre Primary Care Network , and called the the Barbershop Project.

The Sheffield scheme has now been up and running for two weeks. The hope is it could save lives by catching potentially deadly conditions before they cause serious harm.

Dr Goddard says the project was set up to improve access to life saving blood pressure monitoring, and the idea is to get to people who may generally be reluctant to go to the doctors – and instead provide checks in an environment where they are more likely to visit.

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She said: “We know that some people might be at higher risk of life changing diseases such as diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.

"Porter Brook Medical Centre - part of the City Centre Network of GP practices - are supporting barbershop owners to be health champions for their communities, offering a safe place to have a blood pressure check and offer friendly advice about what to do next.

“Knowing your blood pressure is high, and taking a few easy steps to improve it, can prevent heart attacks and strokes, improving your life for you and your loved ones.

“Fades barbershop and Lux hair and beauty in Sheffield are both leading the way in this exciting new project mirroring successful similar projects in Los Angeles in the USA.

“They are welcoming customers and passers by into their shops to have a quick blood pressure check- and they then help you to use your results to stay fit and healthy.”

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