The National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR)
A Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) programme starts and ends with an assessment to see how it can be tailored best to help you. Your CR team will give you a questionnaire as part of these assessments and this information is recorded along with information from your clinical assessment with a member of the CR team plus information about why you were referred for CR. This information is also used for the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR).
You will be asked to fill in a questionnaire before (Assessment 1) and at the end (Assessment 2) of CR. The reason for collecting the data a second time is to measure what you achieve while attending CR, help set long term goals and, via NACR, help find ways to improve CR programmes and CR service provision both nationally and locally.
What happens to the information?
CR information is entered onto a database in the by cardiac rehabilitation staff, and this is treated with the same level of confidentiality as all information you provide to your healthcare team.
The data is collected by Clinical Audit, NHS England (formerly NHS Digital) who hold data and information relating to health and social care (Home – NHS England Digital) and NHS England is the data controller. Identifiable information is removed and the data sent to NHS Arden & GEM Commissioning Support Unit, where the NACR team access and use it for national, regional and local reports. You can see reports that have been published via the link below:
NACR does not hold any personally identifiable data which means it will not share any personal data with any other person or organisation. Data, with patient identifiers removed, collected by NACR is used to assess the quality of CR, to improve service provision and clarify which factors determine the success of CR. It can also be linked with other approved datasets to aid reporting on services.
For further information please see our Privacy Policy
Who sees my information?
The hospital and CR staff who treat you, and approved staff at Clinical Audit, NHS England if necessary. NACR staff at NHS Arden & GEM CSU see the same information but with all identifying information – Name/NHS Number/Date of Birth/Address – removed so they don’t know who it is from.
Do I have to take part?
We know that not everyone is comfortable with their information being used in this way. If you are happy for your information to be used, you do not need to do anything. If you do not want your information to be used in NACR please complete this form and email it to the NHS England Service Desk at: ssd.nationalservicedesk@nhs.net with the subject heading of “Patient Opt Out: NACR”. Alternatively, you can call them on 0300 303 5035.
Choosing not to be included in NACR will not affect your care.
National Data Opt-Out The National Data Opt-Out (available to patients in England only) does not apply to this audit. If you have used the National Data Opt-Out to stop your health records being shared for research and planning, you still need to tell the Clinical Audit, NHS England Enquiries team if you do not want your information to be used in NACR. More information can be found at: Patient Choices