‘Transformative’ remote heart rehab plans green-lit by NHS

Heart patients will be able to complete rehabilitation at home using online services instead of waiting for face-to-face appointments under new NHS plans.

Six online platforms have been conditionally recommended to the NHS to support adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

The programmes include exercise plans, diet advice, medication management and psychological support, with some also using wearable devices to track activity.

The six approved are Activate Your Heart, D REACH-HF, Digital Heart Manual, Gro Health HeartBuddy, KiActiv and myHeart.

CVD is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels.

It affects around seven million people in the UK, yet uptake for cardiac rehabilitation programmes remains low despite their ability to reduce further heart problems and hospital admissions, Nice said.

Dr Anastasia Chalkidou, healthtech programme director at Nice, said: “These digital platforms offer real potential to transform how cardiac rehabilitation is offered to people to meet their individual circumstances.

“We know that traditional programmes aren’t reaching everyone who could benefit – particularly women, younger patients and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.”

Before patients can use the online services, they must be assessed by a healthcare professional.

Nice added that more support may be needed for older people, those with disabilities, homeless patients or those whose first language is not English.

The platforms will be used in the NHS for the next three years to generate further evidence and data on their long-term effectiveness.

“The early data is promising and suggests, with safeguards in place, more people should now be given the opportunity to use these new technologies,” Dr Chalkidou added.

This three-year evidence collection period will give us the additional robust data we need to determine whether these innovations should be recommended as a permanent part of cardiac care.”

A consultation on the conditional recommendation is underway and will close on 3 September.

Seven other platforms – Beat Better, Datos Health, Get Ready, Luscii vitals, Pumping Marvellous Cardiac Rehab Platform, R Plus Health and Sword Move – require more research before they can be funded by the NHS, Nice said.