Preventing the Preventable: How the Natalie Kate Moss Trust is supporting the NHS vision for cardiovascular health
- Aug 7
- 4 min read
High blood pressure is often described as a silent condition. It can develop without obvious symptoms, quietly placing additional strain on the heart, blood vessels, kidneys and brain. Many people may feel completely well while living with blood pressure that is putting their long-term health at risk.
That is why prevention matters.
The NHS is increasingly focused on moving healthcare away from a system that primarily responds when people become seriously unwell, towards one that identifies risk earlier, supports people to manage their health and helps prevent illness before it develops. The NHS Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework reflects this shift, placing greater emphasis on prevention, earlier diagnosis, proactive care and treatment closer to home.
This vision strongly aligns with the work of The Natalie Kate Moss Trust.
Our mission is simple but ambitious: to help prevent lifestyle-related brain haemorrhages through better education, awareness and access to blood pressure monitoring, while funding vital research to improve treatment and outcomes when brain haemorrhages do occur.
Making blood pressure checks part of everyday life
High blood pressure is one of the leading lifestyle-related causes of brain haemorrhage, yet it often goes unnoticed because it does not usually cause symptoms. The only reliable way to know your blood pressure is to check it.
The NHS vision recognises that prevention cannot rely solely on people making appointments when they are already worried or unwell. Health checks need to become more accessible, proactive and embedded within everyday life. This is exactly the approach behind our prevention campaign.
Through awareness days in communities, the Trust provides members of the public with the opportunity to have their blood pressure checked, learn what their reading means and understand why regular monitoring is so important. These events create an opportunity to reach people who may not routinely engage with healthcare services and to start conversations that could lead to earlier action.
A blood pressure check takes only a few minutes, but the information it provides can be life-changing.
Our aim is not simply to encourage people to know their numbers. We want to help people understand what they can do next: how lifestyle choices can influence blood pressure, when to seek advice and why ongoing monitoring and management are essential.
At NKMT, we also deliver Lunch and Learn sessions in workplaces, bringing practical health education directly to colleagues.
Workplaces provide an important opportunity to reach people who may be busy, feel healthy and have little reason to think about their blood pressure. By creating accessible and engaging conversations during the working day, we can help make prevention part of everyday life rather than something people only consider after a health scare.
These sessions explore the importance of checking blood pressure, the factors that can contribute to hypertension and the positive lifestyle changes that can support better long-term health. They also encourage people to take responsibility for their own wellbeing while recognising that prevention is supported by knowledge, access and practical opportunities to act.
This closely reflects the NHS ambition to bring prevention closer to communities and make health support easier to access.
Testing new ways to improve access
Prevention must continue to evolve. That is why the Trust is exploring new ways to make blood pressure monitoring more accessible.
We are running a pilot in an opticians, examining whether a familiar and trusted community setting can provide another opportunity for people to check their blood pressure. Many people visit an optician regularly, making it a potentially valuable setting for raising awareness and identifying risk earlier.
We are also developing work within the PSHE curriculum, providing young people with more information about healthy lifestyles, blood pressure and the importance of protecting their long-term health.
Prevention should not begin only in adulthood. By helping children and young people understand how lifestyle choices can affect their health, we can build knowledge and awareness that lasts throughout life. These initiatives reflect a broader vision of prevention: making health information accessible, relevant and available at different stages of life.
Education does not end when an awareness event or workplace session finishes.
Our Prevent the Preventable podcast brings together healthcare professionals, researchers, survivors, families and experts to discuss blood pressure, brain haemorrhages and the lifestyle factors that can contribute to hypertension.
The podcast provides clear, practical information while making complex health topics easier to understand. It encourages listeners to ask questions, check their blood pressure and consider the small, sustainable changes that can support better health.
Most importantly, it helps move the conversation about prevention beyond statistics and into people’s everyday lives.
Prevention and treatment: two sides of the same mission
While prevention is vital, not every brain haemorrhage can be prevented. When one occurs, rapid diagnosis and access to the right care are critical.
The NHS focus on improving outcomes for patients with intracerebral haemorrhage aligns with the second part of the Trust’s mission: funding research to improve treatment and help patients receive the right care as quickly as possible.
Through our partnership with the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre at The University of Manchester, we support research that aims to improve understanding, treatment and outcomes following brain haemorrhage.
This work recognises a crucial reality... time matters.
Faster identification, earlier intervention and more effective treatment have the potential to improve survival and reduce the life-changing impact of intracerebral haemorrhage.
Our work therefore connects prevention and treatment. We are helping people understand how to reduce their risk before a brain haemorrhage happens, while supporting research to improve care when prevention is not enough.
A shared vision
The NHS vision is clear: prevent disease earlier, identify risk sooner and provide effective care closer to where people live.
At The Natalie Kate Moss Trust, we are turning that vision into action, through community blood pressure checks, workplace education, innovative access pilots, school-based learning, public awareness and research.
By making blood pressure checks a normal part of life, empowering people with knowledge and supporting advances in brain haemorrhage care, we are working towards the same goal:
fewer preventable brain haemorrhages, earlier action and better outcomes for everyone affected.
Because prevention starts with awareness.
Awareness leads to action.
And action can help us all Prevent the Preventable.
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