The HSJ Patient Safety Awards, run by the Health Service Journal – a publication aimed at NHS workers – has named the work as a finalist in both the ‘Primary Care Safety Initiative of the Year’ and ‘Improving Safety and Outcomes for Minority Ethnic Communities’ categories.
Outcomes for patients with hypertension in parts of Bedford were among the worst in England, and those for people with Black African and Black Caribbean heritage were worse still than for the population as a whole. This meant that they were disproportionately affected by the consequences: late diagnoses, preventable strokes, avoidable hospital admissions and lives permanently changed.
After gathering experiences and suggestions from patients who had experience of hypertension, a group of local practices trialled different approaches to encouraging people at risk of high blood pressure to come forward for monitoring and treatment. Taken together, these reduce health inequalities whilst improving outcomes for the wider population.
These patients wanted care pathways which felt human and recognised the demands of daily life, which could get in the way of taking up screening opportunities and accessing follow-up care. Methods included using pharmacies as screening venues, introducing group clinics to encourage residents to attend, and helping patients to understand their condition so that they could set realistic goals to reduce their blood pressure.
One practice saw the proportion of patients in the target group who had good control over their blood pressure increase from 37% to 81%. Another saw the figure increase from 51% to 75%, with a number of patients involved in the pilot taking up the option of medications to reduce their blood pressure or cholesterol.
Dr Jaison Mathew, a GP at London Road Surgery in Bedford and Deputy Lead for East Bedford Primary Care Network, said:
I’m delighted that the work we have carried out in Bedford has been recognised in this way. Practices and the ICB have worked with the world-renowned Institute for Healthcare Improvement to devise this project, but we are overwhelmingly grateful to the patients who took part and contributed to the research base we built up across the different communities in Bedford.
We now have a better understanding of what works to motivate patients to come forward and manage their own health, and we will be applying this learning to future projects to improve the health of the whole population.
Jan Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of NHS Central East Integrated Care Board, said:
This is well-deserved recognition for a project which makes a difference. Our organisation is driven by one question: what best serves our population? We know that some people’s lives have already been transformed through their improved control of their blood pressure, but we now have the opportunity to reach many more.This is well-deserved recognition for a project which makes a difference. Our organisation is driven by one question: what best serves our population? We know that some people’s lives have already been transformed through their improved control of their blood pressure, but we now have the opportunity to reach many more.
Having been shortlisted, the team behind the Bedford project will now present their work to the judging panel, before the winners are announced at a ceremony taking place in Telford, Shropshire, in September. Practices across the country will have the opportunity to learn from work carried out in Bedford, at an accompanying conference for health professionals.