An award-winning buddy support scheme for heart patients is set to help even more people in Bradford.

Project Beat, which is run by Bradford City Teaching Primary Care Trust (tPCT), links up former heart patients with people who have recently experienced a heart attack to support them through their recovery.

The Bradford City Teaching Primary Care Trust (tPCT)-run project recently won a West Yorkshire Modernisation Award for using the outcomes of patient involvement to improve health and social services. It currently has a team of ten male volunteers. But the scheme is set to double the number of volunteers to include women and more people from ethnic minorities.

Community cardiac worker with Project Beat Mohammed Sharif said: "Being able to speak to someone who has been through a heart attack really helps. Volunteers are trained in exercise, diet, communication skills and resuscitation over a period of six weeks by professionals including GPs and psychologists."

Since the project was launched last April, volunteers have been working with patients at community rehabilitation classes, telling them how they can benefit from exercise and sharing their experiences of heart problems at community-awareness events to help people change their lifestyles.

"The volunteers benefit because some of them also go on to become tutors, taking courses themselves, and the training also helps them to manage their illness," said Mohammed.

He now hopes that what started off as an 18-month pilot scheme will become a permanent service for heart patients and people suffering from other illnesses in the future.

Volunteer co-ordinator Yakoob Ali, of Clayton Road, Lidget Green, survived three heart attacks before undergoing triple bypass surgery two years ago. Yakoob, 52, helped to set up Project Beat after he and Mohammed set up a Walking for Health group for heart bypass patients.

"It's been very beneficial," said Yakoob. "When the people from the walkers' group went through surgery we did not have anyone to talk to. Now patients can talk to someone who has been through the same thing as well as the professionals. I do a lot of walking now and it has helped to build my confidence."

Health bodies from Bradford and Airedale netted half of the eight awards at this month's West Yorkshire Modernisation Awards, which recognises innovative health and social care projects.

Bradford District Care Trust won the award for improving health and social care with e-technology for Userbility - a website which provides news about mental health issues and services in Bradford. Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust won the improving-patient-experience category for an information leaflet and assessment process to ensure effective care and treatment for Muslim patients.

Physiotherapy and chaplaincy staff at the trust teamed up to create the leaflet explaining that Muslim patients are not compromising their beliefs by accepting physiotherapy treatment.

A team from Airedale NHS Trust won the improving-service- effectiveness through the spread of good practice for developing the role of the nurse cystoscopist to reduce the time a patient has to wait for a diagnostic test to identify the cause of a bladder problem.