We demonstrated that achieving a 85% cardiac rehabilitation target would prevent 49,000 hospital admissions and 19,500 deaths over 10 years, directly informing national policy.
#Sickness to Prevention
The Yorkshire and Humber ARC’s cardiac rehabilitation research has directly influenced national health policy through evidence-based economic analysis demonstrating the substantial benefits of increasing rehabilitation uptake.
Key Impacts:
• Directly informed the NHS Long-Term Plan (2019) and British Heart Foundation strategy (2019).
• Developed a commissioning toolkit with the British Heart Foundation to facilitate geographically-specific business cases.
• Calculated that achieving 85% cardiac rehabilitation target would prevent 49,000 hospital admissions and 19,500 deaths over 10 years.
• Demonstrated that delays in starting rehabilitation cause 10,753 patients to miss out, equating to 3,936 lost years of life expectancy.
• Published findings in high-impact European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
• Extended international impact through collaboration with Deakin University, Australia.
The research addresses a critical healthcare challenge: while heart disease kills nearly 10 million people globally each year, only 50% of eligible patients in the UK participate in recommended cardiac rehabilitation programs despite an 85% national target.
By quantifying both the health outcomes and economic implications of increasing rehabilitation uptake, the team has provided commissioners with robust evidence to support service investment. The collaboration with the British Heart Foundation has transformed theoretical research into practical implementation tools through a specialised toolkit that enables local health systems to build specific business cases.
This work exemplifies how health economics research can bridge the gap between evidence and policy implementation, creating a direct pathway from academic findings to healthcare delivery changes that will ultimately save lives and reduce healthcare costs.