July 2026 NACR Quarterly Report on Completion of Core CR (rerun October 2026)

Method: Rerun using the October 2026 data download covering January to March 2026. Patient records were included where the patient completed Core1 rehabilitation during the reporting period. Programme-level results are presented where sufficient data were available, defined as more than 10 Core rehabilitation records created within the named programme. Patients are assigned to the programme where they attended Core CR.

Results: This report shows the extent to which patients completing Core CR had assessments recorded before and after CR. The BACPR Standards and Core Components, alongside the National Certification Programme for Cardiac Rehabilitation (NCP_CR) KPIs, state that patients should receive an assessment before starting their CR programme. The approved definition of completion requires a discharge assessment with the CR team to highlight progress and establish longer-term goals. Recording assessments before and after CR should therefore remain a priority.

There were 176 programmes with patients completing CR during the reporting period. Nine services had insufficient patient numbers and were not reported. Of the remaining 167 programmes with available data, 94 had an Assessment 1 recorded for 100% of patients completing CR. Separately, 48 programmes had an Assessment 2 recorded for 100% of patients completing CR.

Across all patients included in the reporting period, 97.7% of completers had an Assessment 1 and 92.0% had an Assessment 2. Although this represents an improvement compared with 2016, when the corresponding figures were 87.4% and 74.8%, it means that 2.3% of patients completed CR without an Assessment 1 recorded and 8.0% completed without an Assessment 2 recorded.

The report also shows the proportion of patients with both Assessment 1 and Assessment 2 recorded. Thirty-eight programmes had both assessments recorded for all patients. A further 76 programmes recorded both assessments for at least 90% but fewer than 100% of patients, while 53 programmes recorded both assessments for fewer than 90% of patients completing CR.

1 Throughout this report, “Core” refers to Core or Phase 3 records.
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