DVLA seem to have changed their policy about people whose blood pressure is over their limit of 180/100.
The first number is called the systolic blood pressure and is the pressure of the heart when it is squeezing. The second number is the diastolic blood pressure and is the pressure when the heart is refilling between each beat, so the pressure goes up to the systolic and then down to the diastolic pressure and so on with every beat.
If the systolic is 180 or above, or the diastolic is 100 or above, DVLA will not accept the readings.
Previously if someone submitted a D4 form to renew their licence or apply for a first licence with a blood pressure which was just above 180 or 100, DVLA would simply tell the applicant to see their GP to get three readings below 180/100 then DVLA would issue the licence.
But recently we have seen several people for a DVLA medical whose blood pressure has been a little bit above 180/100 and DVLA have immediately revoked their licence.
They send a standard letter which says “We have received medical evidence that you blood pressure is consistently above 180/100 and are therefore refusing/revoking your licence. We will consider an application for you if you submit evidence that your blood pressure is consistently below 180/100.”
Of course this is factually incorrect because DVLA have not “received evidence that the blood pressure is consistently above 180/100”.
Their letter is also confusing because it does not explain what the applicant needs to do to get their licence back. Do they need to fill in a fresh application form? Do they need to send off a fresh D4 form?
So take care, because if you send off your D4 form to renew your licence and the blood pressure on the day was above 180 or 100 then DVLA will REVOKE YOUR LICENCE. They will not give you an opportunity to get some new, lower readings on a different day.
So this is the advice our doctors are now giving when we do a DVLA drivers’ medical:
We advise that you book your medical in plenty of time so that if there is a problem with your blood pressure you don’t have to rush to send off the application.
So long as you have time before your licence expires, we recommend you don’t send off the D4 form until you have some more (better) blood pressure readings.
DVLA require three readings below 180/100 to undo the effect of one reading above that number.
We recommend that you collect three readings which are all less than 180/100. If you were just having a bad day, you might find that the next readings you have are all below this number, or if you genuinely have developed high blood pressure (hypertension) then your doctor might need to put you one a tablet a day to bring it down. One option is to go to a local pharmacist and use their machine to get a printout of two readings and then take those two readings to an appointment with the practice nurse and ask her to do a third reading and then write down all three results onto some headed paper.
If the pharmacist or nurse can’t get readings which are below 180/100 then you need to see your GP who might want to put you on medication.
Then, when you have medical evidence of three readings below 180/100, send that off along with your D4 form and then the three readings below the DVLA level should be sufficient to undo the damage done on the D4 form by the reading which was too high.
When the doctor is doing the examination for the D4 form, he or she should take up to three readings if necessary and record only the best of the three. Generally the readings should go down each time but sometimes, if you are already feeling stressed when you go for the medical and the doctor tells you you have a problem with your blood pressure the blood pressure goes up and up again over the next few minutes!
Is raised blood pressure dangerous? If we’re talking about seriously high blood pressure (much higher than 180/100) then yes, it could do you some harm over the next few weeks but if we are talking about blood pressure levels which are roughly around the DVLA cut-off point then the only harm it is likely to do to you is over a long time in the future. So it is not usually a question of “If I don’t get this sorted out now will something serious happen any time soon?” but “If I don’t get this sorted out, is there a risk that in the next five to 20 years my health might be damaged?”
Hope this helps. Please remember that this is how things stand at the time of writing towards the end of 2017. The situation may change if DVLA change their procedures.
Thanks for this as I said in my other post I get white coat syndrome pretty bad so I’ve been put on Propanolol 10mg.
I guess my best bet would be to go to the local pharmacy or dr’s and get 3? (hopefully) decent readings to take with me before doing my d4 medical just to cover me if I’m too high on the day?
If your blood pressure is always high at the Docs ect then ask to loan a monitor so you can take some readings at home and a chart to fill in to show them at the docs.
This will save you a lot of aggro with the DVLA if they are only seeing high blood pressure results.
xichrisxi:
If your blood pressure is always high at the Docs ect then ask to loan a monitor so you can take some readings at home and a chart to fill in to show them at the docs.
This will save you a lot of aggro with the DVLA if they are only seeing high blood pressure results.
I’ve had a 24hr bp monitor that averaged out to 141/87 bit high but not too bad. Been put on the pills as due to have an operation on my knee and if it’s to high at the hospital they’ll just send me home so hopefully these pills should sort me out I know its stupid but I just hate the dr’s/hospitals so probably be the same if I go for a medical. So best to go prepared with decent reading ( last reading at doctors was much better with the meds) than just get knocked back at the start. Like you say try not to get more aggro than you need.