Changing and Improving HEO Example Statement (250 Words)
At HEO level, assessors look for you to have led a change, not just suggested one. They want a method: evidence gathered, a designed fix, a trial or pilot, adjustment from feedback, and a measured result. Involving others and writing up what worked shows the structured thinking this grade requires.
Example statement
SI worked as an administrator at a GP surgery with around 9,000 registered patients. Missed appointments were running high, wasting valuable clinical time every week and frustrating both patients and clinicians.
TThe practice manager asked me to look at why patients missed appointments and to improve the whole reminder process.
AI reviewed three months of attendance data and found most missed appointments came from patients booked more than two weeks ahead. I proposed a second reminder text two days before the appointment and researched low-cost text services already used by other local practices. I drafted the message wording with a receptionist and checked it with the practice manager for tone and clarity. I ran a six-week pilot and asked reception staff for feedback each week; they reported patients calling to cancel after the second text, which was a good sign, so I made sure cancelled slots were flagged for same-day reuse. I adjusted the send time from 8am to 6pm after noticing more responses in the evening. I also created a simple monthly report so the partners could see the trend for themselves. When one GP questioned whether texts excluded older patients, I added a phone-call option for patients without mobiles.
RMissed appointments fell by around 25% during the pilot, freeing roughly 30 appointments a month, and the partners made the two-text system permanent. I later presented the results at a locality meeting, and two neighbouring surgeries adopted the same approach for their own patients.
Use this as a model, not a script. This is an original example written for this site. Adapt the structure to your own experience — copying it word for word risks plagiarism and will not reflect your evidence.
Why this scores well
- You used data to find the root cause before acting, which shows the analytical approach to improvement expected at HEO.
- You piloted, gathered weekly feedback and adjusted the design, including an inclusion fix for patients without mobiles, showing change done thoughtfully.
- The result is measured (25% fewer missed appointments, 30 appointments freed monthly) and the change was sustained and shared with other surgeries.
What HEO level requires
| Grade | What assessors expect |
|---|---|
| EO | At EO, Changing and Improving means suggesting workable improvements to team processes, helping put them in place, and adapting your own approach when feedback or circumstances change. |
| HEO ← this page | At HEO, Changing and Improving means reviewing working practices, leading small-scale change with a clear method, involving the people affected, and measuring whether the change worked. |
| SEO | At SEO, Changing and Improving means leading change across a team: challenging inefficient practice constructively, bringing people with you through resistance, and embedding improvements so they last. |
Common mistakes at this level
- Measuring nothing, so the result rests on your own opinion
- Choosing a story where your manager led and you assisted
- Ignoring the people side: no mention of how you helped others adjust
Frequently asked questions
A failed first attempt can strengthen the statement if you show the loop: what the trial revealed, how you adjusted, and what happened next. Assessors score the method as much as the outcome. What they cannot score is a failure with no adaptation, because that shows persistence without improvement.
It helps, because changes at HEO level usually affect other people's work. One sentence showing you listened to a concern and adapted the plan demonstrates the collaborative implementation assessors want. Do not invent conflict, though — a smooth change told with evidence still scores well.
Same STAR shape as other grades: two sentences of Situation, one of Task, around 60% on Action in first person, and a Result with a number. The difference is content, not structure: your actions should read like a small change project — evidence, design, pilot, adjust, evaluate.
Next step
Get the free HEO statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
Download the template pack