When a patient has severe sepsis, bleeding or dehydration it is standard practice to lie them down to maintain their blood pressure.

Why then are blood pressure and heart rate readings in different postures not used to help diagnose these conditions?

Join Dr Stephen Katona a locum out of hours GP in South Manchester who has been doing just that for over twenty years.

If you have your own blood pressure machine feel free to bring it along with you and wear clothing that would allow you to take your own readings. If you have a smart phone you can also try entering these into an online calculator to give you a single number that should be close to 1.