25/08/10
Rehabilitation recommended for heart failure
patients
People with heart failure
should be offered rehabilitation
programmes when they leave hospital, including group exercise
and psychological and educational support, says the UK’s health
guidance body.
These improve quality of life
and help people live with their conditions, reducing the need for
costly hospital admissions.
The National Institute for Health and
Clinical Excellence (NICE) makes the recommendation in
updated guidance on treating patients with chronic heart failure.
The guidance also says:
- Rehabilitation programmes should be
tailored to meet the specific needs of heart
failure patients
- New evidence shows exercise
as part of cardiac rehabilitation does not put heart failure
patients’ lives at greater risk
- Patients should be checked
to ensure they are stable and don’t have a condition or device that
would prevent them doing exercise based rehabilitation
programmes
Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at
the British Heart Foundation, said: “There are hundreds of
thousands of people in the UK living with heart failure.
The updated guidance, which is based on new evidence, recommends
that many of these would benefit from cardiac
rehabilitation.
“There is a challenge here for the health
service as it needs to scale up the provision of
cardiac rehab schemes.
"However, the prize is enabling more heart
failure patients to take control of their condition
and use precious NHS resources better by preventing
costly readmissions to hospital.”
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