A SURVEY OF EXERCISE BASED CARDIAC REHABILITATION SERVICES IN NORTHERN-IRELAND

A survey was undertaken to establish the extent of provision of phase III exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation in Northern Ireland. Detaile d information was obtained on patient referral mechanisms, patient ass essment, the exercise component of cardiac rehabilitation and the use of outcome measures. The results suggest that cardiac rehabilitation i n Northern Ireland has developed on an ad hoc basis, and although most centres accept myocardial infarcation and coronary artery bypass graf t patients for cardiac rehabilitation, higher risk patients are genera lly excluded from these programmes. Currently, little in the way of st andard outcome measures are being used to evaluate the effectiveness o f existing cardiac rehabilitation services. This paper makes several r ecommendations to facilitate the development of a more standardised se rvice within Northern Ireland.