Implementation of an evidence based home cardiac rehabilitation programme for people with heart failure and their caregivers in Scotland (SCOT:REACH-HF)
Heart failure is a serious condition that affects nearly one million people in the UK, and its prevalence is increasing. Heart failure has significant impacts on quality of life and the cost of heart failure to the NHS is estimated at £2 billion annually.
Despite national guidelines recommending that everyone with heart failure should receive cardiac rehab (CR), currently only some 20% of patients with a diagnosis of heart failure are currently offered or participate. Most of what is offered is hospital-based, which has been found to be a barrier to participation. Home-based CR can provide an accessible and cost-effective approach to improving uptake and accessibility. The Rehabilitation EnAblement in CHronic Heart Failure (REACH-HF) trial found the addition of REACH-HF to usual medical care had a positive impact on participants living with heart failure and their caregivers.
SCOT:REACH-HF seeks to understand what shapes the implementation of the REACH-HF programme in a real-world setting. With six NHS ‘beacon sites’ across Scotland, we aim to inform the future implementation of this home-based programme for people with heart failure and their caregivers in Scotland. We are currently following up participants and the study as a whole concludes in July 2022.
SCOT:REACH-HF is funded by Heart Research UK.
The REACH-HF programme recently received its first NHS funding for roll-out in England.
Publications
The study protocol was published in BMJ Open.
