Current position

The three BIHS wearables workstreams have now completed their kick-off meetings and the programme is moving into a structured delivery phase. The emerging consensus is that wearable blood pressure technologies need a staged, use-case-based route to evidence and adoption, rather than a single universal standard or a binary pass/fail model. This means linking evaluation to intended use, defining the minimum clinically useful data pathway, and testing early use cases in a realistic NHS setting.

The programme is currently focused on three connected areas:

Workstream 1: Evaluation framework and clinical use
Developing a proportionate UK evaluation pathway for wearable BP technologies, including principles for evidence maturity, readiness for controlled evaluation, and eventual clinical use in defined contexts.

Workstream 2: Data integration and clinical workflow
Defining how wearable data should be standardised, summarised and routed so that clinicians receive a clear, coded and clinically actionable output rather than unusable raw data. This includes the role of a neutral single point of entry for data flowing into research and clinical environments.

Workstream 3: Research and implementation pilots
Designing a practical early pilot focused on diagnostic agreement against ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, alongside operational learning on usability, workflow and service fit