British Heart Foundation Care and Education Research Group
Only about one-third of patients who had had a heart attack receive cardiac rehabilitation. A recent review at the University of York discovered overwhelming support for the idea that it can prolong life and provide a better quality of life. Attending rehabilitation programmes reduces early death by 25 per cent. However, several groups of people are less likely to receive this help: the elderly, women, ethnic minorities and those who live in the countryside. The depressed, people on lower incomes, and smokers are also thought to be missing out.
Our research group has been based in York since 1998, but in 2003 a new research unit, the British Heart Foundation Care and Education Research Group, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), was launched to help improve the quality of rehabilitation treatment for cardiac patients.
The new research unit cements a long-standing relationship established by Professor Bob Lewin between the University and the Foundation. Bob Lewin, who heads up the unit based in the Department of Health Sciences, is Professor of Rehabilitation at the University and his research focuses on designing and evaluating rehabilitation methods for people with heart problems. He has produced the York Angina Plan, to be used in GP surgeries immediately angina has been diagnosed; the Angina Management Programme, a programme for patients with chest pain but normal coronary arteries; and the Heart Manual.
BHF provides support funding for a research fellow and part of Professor Lewins' salary. The majority of funding is from research contracts from a wide variety of government, charitable and commercial sources.
The unit focuses on research and development. It will help the BHF monitor the use of its patient support groups, assess funded programmes for heart failure nurse, and evaluate innovative nursing roles which have been sponsored by the BHF. It will also play a major role in research intelligence, drawing upon the wide range of health-related resources at York to keep BHF cardiac care and education departments and health managers who are responsible for cardiac services, up-to-date with new evidence. Staff will also maintain the BHF cardiac rehabilitation online register for professionals and the public, and hold an annual conference at York.
The Department of Health Sciences is a 5 rated, multidisciplinary department, giving us rapid access to leading epidemiologists, health economists, statisticians, experts in systematic review and qualitative and quantitative methodologists.
Over the last ten years our work has demonstrably influenced the development of cardiac rehabilitation and NHS policy. Approximately 3,500 healthcare staff have taken part in training programmes that we have devised and we have produced more than 60 peer reviewed scientific papers, chapters or reports.
Further information is available here:
Department of Health Sciences, University of York
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