Chest pain symptom scoring can improve the quality of referrals to Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic

"Chest pain symptom scoring resulted in improved GP discrimination of chest pain, improved referral quality, fewer overall referrals to RACPC and shorter patient wait times. These benefits were achieved without using additional financial resources and without the time or capital expense of training GPs."

Chest pain symptom scoring can improve the quality of referrals to Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic
K Sinhji Rathod, H Ward, F Farooqi
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2014;3

Read more here.

Myocardial infarction (acute): Early rule out using high-sensitivity troponin tests

NICE have created a costing statement and audit tool to help implement and assess the impact of diagnostic guidance for acute Myocardial infarction.

Myocardial infarction (acute): Early rule out using high-sensitivity troponin tests (Elecsys Troponin T high-sensitive, ARCHITECT STAT High Sensitive Troponin-I and AccuTnI+3 assays)
NICE
October 2014

Access the tools here.

Lean management also improves primary care

"The management principles used to improve quality and efficiency at Toyota Motor Corp. and other manufacturers also are linked to better delivery of cardiac care and lower death rates from heart attacks, according to research that demonstrates for the first time how well the so-called lean production system functions across a wide swath of U.S. hospitals."

Cardiac treatment improves after taking page from Toyota playbook
KB O'Reilly
American Medical News
April 2013

Read more here.

Getting care right for patients after a heart attack

"Not all providers offer all four phases of cardiac rehabilitation which are set out in the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease."

After the event: getting care right for patients after a heart attack
Heart UK
January 2012

Read more here.