National campaign for cardiac rehabilitation, 27 July 2007

A national campaign for cardiac rehabilitation will be launched on 27th July 2007, which will inform patients about current cardiac rehabilitation provision in the UK. As part of the campaign, patients are being encouraged to make contact with their local service provider, which may involve them contacting you. You may also be contacted by the media following the press release about the campaign (see attached and please note it is embargoed until tomorrow).

It is important that cardiac rehabilitation practitioners become more aware of the variations in service that patients experience and support the campaign. The National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR) annual statistical report (July 2007) highlighted that many services are insufficiently resourced to deliver effective rehabilitation as defined by the minimum standards for cardiac rehabilitation (BACR 2007).

The British Association for Cardiac Rehabilitation (BACR) is working closely with the BHF, NACR and Heart Care Partnership UK on this campaign, the aim of which is ultimately to improve services for all our patients. It has 5 key aims:

1.      That every heart patient who is suitable and wishes to take part be given access to a rehabilitation programme

2.      That patients be offered alternative methods, such as home-based rehabilitation, if they prefer not to take part in a group programme or attend hospital as an outpatient

3.      That efforts be made to ensure that rehabilitation programmes meet the needs of under-represented groups, such as ethnic minorities and women

4.      That each programme meet the minimum standards set out by the British Association for Cardiac Rehabilitation (BACR)

5.      That cardiac rehabilitation provision be monitored through the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR)

For more information and to download the campaign documents visit www.bhf.org.uk/cardiacrehab

The campaign will start in Scotland and Northern Ireland in September, tying in with expected new audit data.  For further details on this please see http://www.bhf.org.uk/news_and_campaigning/our_campaigns/cardiac_rehabilitation/scotland_ni_page.aspx