A NEW health service created in one of the country's heart disease blackspots has earned three awards for its fight against the killer disease.

The Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) programme developed for the districts of Teesdale and Wear Valley has been highlighted as one of the most successful in Britain.

Durham Dales Primary Care Trust has employed CHD nurses to co-ordinate, facilitate and run specialist clinics in each of the area's 12 GP practices. Patients can then be individually assessed to identify factors that put them at risk such as smoking, lack of exercise, blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.

The programme was named runner up in the Guidelines in Practice 2002 awards, having already scooped prizes for achievement and teamwork at last year's Primary Care Report Best Practice Awards.

In the last 12 months the programme has given advice, measured the cholesterol and prescribed effective cardiac medications to almost all CHD patients.

Coronary Heart Disease accounts for more than 125,000 deaths a year in the UK. This has been a particular problem in the Durham Dales PCT area, where the premature death rate from CHD is higher than the national average with 50 more people dying each year than in other areas.

Dr Stewart Findlay, chairman of Durham Dales PCT Professional Executive Committee, said: "The success of our service is due to the collaborative working of all members of the primary health care team. It is essential that we sustain this improvement in our service and we are committed to ongoing monitoring and development of our CHD strategy and intend to achieve all milestones set out in the NSF ahead of time".

The nurses also work closely with the heart failure clinic at Bishop Auckland General Hospital alongside the consultant physician and GP with a specialist interest in heart failure.