Why do so few patients with heart failure participate in cardiac rehabilitation? A cross-sectional survey from England, Wales and Northern Ireland

OBJECTIVES: To determine why so few patients with chronic heart failure in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland take part in cardiac rehabilitation. DESIGN: Two-stage, postal questionnaire-based, national survey. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Stage 1: 277 cardiac rehabilitation centres in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland registered on the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation register in 2009–10. Stage 2: 35 centres that indicated in stage 1 that they provide a separate cardiac rehabilitation programme for patients with heart failure. RESULTS: Full data were available for 224/277 (81%) cardiac rehabilitation centres. Only 90/224 (40%) routinely offered phase 3 cardiac rehabilitation to patients with heart failure. Of these 90 centres that offered rehabilitation, 43% did so only when heart failure was secondary to myocardial infarction or revascularisation. Less than half (39%) had a specific rehabilitation programme for heart failure. Of those not providing for patients with heart fa...