The Use of Economic Evaluation to Inform Cardiac Rehabilitation Policy and Implementation 

Our Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) research produced a mathematical model to explore the population health and NHS cost implications of cardiac rehabilitation given the effectiveness demonstrated in the latest systematic review of trial evidence.  We concluded that CR was cost-effective, with the potential to save 20,000 lives and 50,000 hospital admissions over a 10-year period if uptake was increased to the 85% target.  

These findings have had significant impact on policy discussions, being referenced as the justification for increasing uptake in England in both the British Heart Foundation’s Turning Back the Tide Framework and the NHS Long Term Plan, as well as informing one of the University of York REF2021 submissions. 

We are currently collaborating with the British Heart Foundation to develop a toolkit able to inform individualised impact assessments to be conducted at local, regional, and national levels. 

More information and further contact

Read about the research through these two publications:

• Quantifying the impact of delayed delivery of cardiac rehabilitation on patients’ health

• Improving cardiac rehabilitation uptake: Potential health gains by socioeconomic status

For more information on this project, contact Seb Hinde at Sebastian.Hinde@york.ac.uk