Factors affecting implementation of home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme for patients with heart failure in four NHS sites

BackgroundThere is a global underutilisation of cardiac rehabilitation in heart failure. Offering alternative modes of delivery, such as home-based programmes, can lead to an increase in uptake. However, adopting this new mode of delivery may be challenging for service providers who predominantly offer centre-based programmes.AimThe study aimed to evaluate the process of implementation in real-world clinical practice by using data generated at four NHS Beacon Sites from England and Northern Ireland which were setup to offer a novel home-based programme – the REACH-HF programme – to 200 patients.MethodsWe used in-depth semi-structured interviews and an online survey. Interviews were conducted with the Beacon Site staff – these were identified using opportunity and snowball sampling. The online survey was subsequently presented to NHS staff who took part in online REACH-HF training during the COVID-19 pandemic. Normalisation Process Theory was used as a framework to guide data collection and analysis.ResultsWe interviewed 17 healthcare professionals working at the Beacon Sites and 17 survey responses were received (20% response rate). We identified a large number of general barriers and enablers to implementation and a smaller number of site-specific factors. The identified barriers and enablers included a lack of resources, a lack of commissioning, having interest in heart failure and working closely with the heart failure team. Different implementation contexts (urban/rural) and factors outside the healthcare team/system (quality of the REACH-HF training, the COVID-19 pandemic) were observed to negatively or positively impact the implementation process.ConclusionThe identified factors were translated into practical solutions. Following consultation with the Beacon Sites we created the REACH-HF Service Delivery Guide, which is now published on the NICE Shared Learning website. The guide is a useful tool that can be used by cardiac rehabilitation services wishing to introduce the REACH-HF programme into routine NHS practice.

White Paper: Open Digital Health - accelerating transparent and scalable health promotion and treatment.

In this White Paper, we outline recommendations from the perspective of health psychology and behavioural science, addressing three research gaps: (1) What methods in the health psychology research toolkit can be best used for developing and evaluating digital health tools? (2) What are the most feasible strategies to reuse digital health tools across populations and settings? (3) What are the main advantages and challenges of sharing (openly publishing) data, code, intervention content and design features of digital health tools? We provide actionable suggestions for researchers joining the continuously growing Open Digital Health movement, poised to revolutionise health psychology research and practice in the coming years. This White Paper is positioned in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring how digital health tools have rapidly gained popularity in 2020-2022, when world-wide health promotion and treatment efforts rapidly shifted from face-to-face to remote delivery. This statement is written by the Directors of the not-for-profit Open Digital Health initiative (n = 6), Experts attending the European Health Psychology Society Synergy Expert Meeting (n = 17), and the initiative consultant, following a two-day meeting (19-20th August 2021).

A pragmatic effectiveness-implementation study comparing trial evidence with routinely collected outcome data for patients receiving the REACH-HF home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation for heart failure continues to be greatly underused worldwide despite being a Class I recommendation in international clinical guidelines and uptake is low in women and patients with mental health comorbidities. METHODS: Rehabilitation EnAblement in CHronic Heart Failure (REACH-HF) programme was implemented in four UK National Health Service early adopter sites ('Beacon Sites') between June 2019 and June 2020. Implementation and patient-reported outcome data were collected across sites as part of the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation. The change in key outcomes before and after the supervised period of REACH-HF intervention across the Beacon Sites was assessed and compared to those of the intervention arm of the REACH-HF multicentre trial. RESULTS: Compared to the REACH-HF multicentre trial, patients treated at the Beacon Site were more likely to be female (33.8% vs 22.9%), older (75.6 vs 70.1), had a more severe classification of heart failure (26.5% vs 17.7%), had poorer baseline health-related quality of life (MLHFQ score 36.1 vs 31.4), were more depressed (HADS score 6.4 vs 4.1) and anxious (HADS score 7.2 vs 4.7), and had lower exercise capacity (ISWT distance 190 m vs 274.7 m). There appeared to be a substantial heterogeneity in the implementation process across the four Beacon Sites as evidenced by the variation in levels of patient recruitment, operationalisation of the REACH-HF intervention and patient outcomes. Overall lower improvements in patient-reported outcomes at the Beacon Sites compared to the trial may reflect differences in the population studied (having higher morbidity at baseline) as well as the marked challenges in intervention delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSION: The results of this study illustrate the challenges in consistently implementing an intervention (shown to be clinically effective and cost-effective in a multicentre trial) into real-world practice, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. Further research is needed to establish the real-world effectiveness of the REACH-HF intervention in different populations.

Barriers and facilitators to implementation of a home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme for patients with heart failure in the NHS: a mixed-methods study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify barriers to, and facilitators of, implementation of the Rehabilitation EnAblement in CHronic Heart Failure (REACH-HF) programme within existing cardiac rehabilitation services, and develop and refine the REACH-HF Service Delivery Guide (an implementation guide cocreated with healthcare professionals). REACH-HF is an effective and cost-effective 12-week home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme for patients with heart failure. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: In 2019, four early adopter 'Beacon Sites' were set up to deliver REACH-HF to 200 patients. In 2020, 5 online REACH-HF training events were attended by 85 healthcare professionals from 45 National Health Service (NHS) teams across the UK and Ireland. DESIGN: Our mixed-methods study used in-depth semi-structured interviews and an online survey. Interviews were conducted with staff trained specifically for the Beacon Site project, identified by opportunity and snowball sampling. The online survey was later offered to subsequent NHS staff who took part in the online REACH-HF training. Normalisation Process Theory was used as a theoretical framework to guide data collection/analysis. RESULTS: Seventeen healthcare professionals working at the Beacon Sites were interviewed and 17 survey responses were received (20% response rate). The identified barriers and enablers included, among many, a lack of resources/commissioning, having interest in heart failure and working closely with the clinical heart failure team. Different implementation contexts (urban/rural), timing (during the COVID-19 pandemic) and factors outside the healthcare team/system (quality of the REACH-HF training) were observed to negatively or positively impact the implementation process. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are highly relevant to healthcare professionals involved in planning, delivering and commissioning of cardiac rehabilitation for patients with heart failure. The study's main output, a refined version of the REACH-HF Service Delivery Guide, can guide the implementation process (eg, designing new care pathways) and provide practical solutions to overcoming common implementation barriers (eg, through early identification of implementation champions).