Beginning the ‘One Devon’ initiative

In September 2025 we successfully launched over 300 blood pressure monitors at all 50 libraries that we run in Devon. We worked closely with Devon County Council Public Health and NHS Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) on the ‘One Devon’ initiative with the goal of encouraging more people to regularly check their blood pressure as it could save their life. 

High blood pressure: a national problem

It is estimated that around one in three adults in the UK has high blood pressure. In England, 31% of men and 26% of women have high blood pressure.  High blood pressure rarely has any symptoms, and the only way to know you have the condition is to get your blood pressure measured. Around 14% of men and 11% of women in the UK have untreated hypertension. In England alone, there are more than five million people that are undiagnosed. 

How libraries can help

Libraries are in a unique position at the heart of their communities and a trusted resource. They are therefore the perfect place to offer health initiatives like this. The benefit of people being able to borrow a monitor for free with their library card is that they borrow it for three weeks, the same as a book, and take the readings in the comfort of their own home. This means they are more relaxed, and readings are more accurate. It also saves time for patients and clinicians, freeing up valuable GP appointments.

The kits include a monitor, simple instruction leaflet, a blood pressure diary to record the readings, and advice on what to do if numbers are high. This also means there is no onus on library staff to offer advice as everything is included in the kits. 

We attach a bar code to each one and add them to the Library Management System as you would a book. Ddifferent numbers are allocated to different libraries depending on size and footfall. In addition to the monitors, members can borrow either an extra small or extra large cuff to ensure that readings are more accurate. A medium cuff comes with each monitor as standard.

Ahead of the launch a suite of online videos was published on the NHS Devon Check Your Blood Pressure Campaign page to help explain the monitors. NHS Devon also created a Check Your Blood Pressure campaign toolkit which was used to promote the launch. The launch was promoted across Devon County Council, Libraries Unlimited and NHS Devon channels. It generated significant coverage across press, media and social media and exceeded the communications objectives, achieving 86 loans within the first month and driving 334 unique views to the NHS Devon campaign page. Media coverage included pieces on BBC Spotlight and ITV West Country. 

Borrowing has remained consistent at roughly 85 loans a month, and early indicators show that the scheme also brings in new library membership with at least 10% of borrowers signing up to the library on the day they took out a monitor. 

Borrowers’ responses

One borrower told us:

"As a nurse I think it’s extremely helpful and important to provide this service and as a service user, I was happy to find the service existed. Keep up the great community service."

Another said: ‘

"We are so grateful for the loan of a blood pressure monitor which can save lives, especially as not everyone can afford to buy one of these and you can't always get to see a doctor or get your blood pressure checked."

One member of library staff told us: ‘

"We've seen success specifically because we have a great rapport with our local GP surgery - the head of the practice actually visited to look at the bags and now they make a point of sending people to us on a regular basis. We've signed up several new library members due to the scheme."

We continue to work closely with Devon County Council Public Health and NHS Devon to coordinate promotion of the scheme with further pushes planned for January during Health Information Week, February for Heart Month and September for Know Your Numbers Week. We also send surveys to those who have borrowed the monitors via email and are aiming to collate some useful data to demonstrate how libraries can support health initiatives.