Change of heart

Abstract

North Kirklees, an urban area in the East of England, known to have a 6.8 percent incidence of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), embarked on a nurse-led CHD primary prevention service in order to improve residents' health. This paper seeks to investigate this serice. Keen to utilise the principles of performance management, the team applied the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model RADAR logic believing that it would strengthen their "results orientation". This paper investigates the results. Using RADAR, the team identified baseline data for CHD health indicators. The teams were then equipped to set targets for continuous improvement, thereby increasing their potential to progress local residents' health. The case-study findings enable others to adopt a similar approach in their pursuit of excellence. The CHD Primary Prevention team focused only on performance results in the first instance and did not look at other EFQM Excellence Model results areas. The paper describes an original case study into how nurses applied RADAR, which gives insight into the team's experiences during their 18-month journey.