A local doctor and nurse gave up their holiday time to offer free ECG health checks to Ashley Centre shoppers.

They teamed-up with Surrey Arrhythmia Support Group (ASG) on Wednesday January 10 to raise awareness around strokes and help prevent them.

Out of the 130 people Dr Abhay Bajpai and Nurse Stephanie Cruickshank screened, nine were found to have heart abnormalities and were referred on to their GP for further help and treatment.

Jane Race, co-founder and chair of Surrey ASG said: “These ECG events are always very rewarding, since founding the group in 2014 we have helped diagnose several patients with atrial fibrillation.

“By identifying these people and getting them anti-coagulated we are helping to prevent strokes.

“We are so lucky that Dr Bajpai and Arrhythmia Nurse Stephanie Cruickshank are willing to give up their free time to help us, without their help these events wouldn’t be able to take place.”

Members of the public were also screened for high blood pressure by Dr Subo Emanuel, GP at The Integrated Care Partnership in Epsom.

Dr Abhay Bajpai is a consultant cardiologist at Epsom and St Helier Hospital and Stephanie Cruickshank is an arrhythmia nurse.

Dr Bajpai is the medical lead of the volunteer-led Surrey ASG, who meet every month at Epsom Hospital and offer free talks on arrhythmia problems.

Their next meeting, on February 7, will feature cardiologist Dr Julian Jarman from The Royal Brompton Hospital, who will be speaking about ablation (a type of heart surgery used to treat arrhythmia).