The NHS Long Term Plan and cardiovascular health

This briefing highlights the commitments in the Long Term Plan for cardiovascular health.

Key messages from the CSP and ACPICR on local implementation

• Local rehabilitation systems needs to be considered as a whole – adopting a symptoms and needs based approach to service and pathway design.  Community teams must be part of an expanded cardiovascular rehabilitation service
• Cardiac rehabilitation is similar to other rehabilitation – such as pulmonary – and could be brought more together in service design and delivery.
• A cardiovascular rehabilitation team needs to be embedded as part of the overall rehab system
• Their role includes comprehensive assessment and individual treatment planning to be delivered in the most appropriate setting for the patient.
• Treatment plans should direct patients to the most appropriate rehab support for them, delivered by multi-disciplinary community rehab teams drawing on both clinical and non-clinical skills and utilising community assets as appropriate.  
• Ongoing rehabilitation in the community needs to be continuous, with no gaps  
• Smooth and timely referral to rehabilitation services is essential, supported by Early Supported Discharge services . 

Scaling up and improving marketing of cardiac rehabilitation to be amongst the best in Europe will prevent up to 23,000 premature deaths and 50,000 acute admissions over 10 years.