Cardiac rehabilitation

What is cardiac rehabilitation?

Cardiac rehabilitation is a program of education and exercise to help people to manage their heart condition.

We work in partnership with professionals from Bristol hospitals and local sports and leisure facilities to provide ongoing exercise opportunities for people with cardiac conditions.

Phase I – III of cardiac rehabilitation is offered to people who have had a cardiac event. This term is used to describe either a heart attack (also known as Myocardial Infarction or MI) or cardiac surgery e.g. heart bypass or fitting of a stent.

Phase IV rehabilitation is available to anyone who has, or has had angina, cardiac surgery, a stent fitted or coronary heart disease (CHD).

The rehabilitation process

Cardiac rehabilitation follows a phasing process

• Phase I - patients stay in hospital directly following their cardiac event e.g. heart attack
• Phase II - directly following discharge from hospital
• Phase III - rehabilitation consisting of exercise, advice and information, delivered by medical staff in a hospital or community setting
• Phase IV - ongoing exercise and maintenance of lifestyle changes.

In Bristol, we call phase IV 'Healthy Hearts'.

Download: Healthy Hearts (phase IV) information leaflet (pdf, 410 KB) (opens new window)

Who runs cardiac rehabilitation?

Secondary Care professionals (those from hospitals) run the phase III programmes across Bristol. Some are located at local hospitals (Frenchay, Southmead, Bristol Royal Infirmary) and some in community settings (Horfield Leisure Centre and South Bristol Sports Centre). The running of phase III at these community settings brings cardiac patients into the centres with the security of exercising under medical supervision. This gives people confidence to continue exercising at the location, after they have finished their phase III. After phase III, patients can be transferred to the phase IV instructor.

Phase IV classes and gym sessions are run by instructors qualified through British Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation (BACR).

Where does Healthy Hearts run?

Bristol's Healthy Hearts exercise provision is expanding with sessions currently running at:

• Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health (University of Bristol)
• Easton Leisure Centre
• Greenway Centre
• Henbury Leisure Centre
• Hengrove Park Leisure Centre
• Horfield Leisure Centre
• Merchants' Academy Sports Centre
• South Bristol Sports Centre
• The Park Sports Centre
• University of the West of England

How much does it cost?

Phases I to III are free of charge as part of the National Health Service. There is a small charge for Healthy Hearts (phase IV) sessions. You will be informed of the price of your phase IV sessions before you attend.

Before you attend Healthy Hearts

In order for you to come along to a Healthy Hearts class, your phase III team or GP must refer you. If you have recently finished phase III, the referral should come from them. If you had your event more than six months ago, you may be referred into Healthy Hearts  by your GP, whether you have completed phase III or not. The form is available to download for you to take to your GP.

Download: BACR referral form (pdf, 80 KB) (opens new window)

The completed form needs to be posted to the address below. Once the form has been received, you will be contacted to discuss which sessions you would like to attend.

Michaela Mulcahy
Sport and Health Development
4th Floor, Brunel House
St George Road
Bristol
BS1 5UY

Why should I go to Healthy Hearts?

Cardiac rehabilitation has been shown to reduce causes of mortality. In addition to improved survival rates, cardiac rehabilitation can be effective in improving quality of life, reducing anxiety and depression and improving control of symptoms.

Isn’t exercise bad for someone who has a cardiac condition?

The right type of exercise can help prevent a further cardiac event. It is recommended that you take advice from appropriately qualified medical professionals and fitness instructors rather than setting out on your own. This way you can learn how to recognise when you are exercising at the right level.

What if I can’t commit to going to a Healthy Hearts session every week?

Classes are run at a variety of venues and times throughout the week, both in the day, evening and weekends.

Many of the sessions are run on a “drop in” basis once you have been referred. You do not have to commit to attending every week.

All the instructors listed in the program are known to each other and are able to pass on your medical details if you choose to attend more than one class. Please let your regular instructor know if you would like this to happen.

Where and when do phase IV activity sessions take place?

Please download the timetable below to see where Healthy Hearts (phase IV) sessions are currently running. Please note participants must be referred on to the sessions and cannot turn up on the day.

Download: Healthy Hearts (phase IV) activity timetable (pdf, 114 KB) (opens new window)

Are you a GP?

In line with BACR protocol, GP’s can refer into phase IV cardiac rehabilitation.

Download: BACR protocol (pdf, 128 KB) (opens new window) for further information.

Patients must be stable and fit referral criteria on page three of the protocol. Please ensure that the patient has signed the BACR referral form (pdf, 80 KB) (opens new window) before returning to the address below. If you need any further information on the referral process please contact Michaela Mulcahy.

Are you a phase IV instructor based locally?

We co-ordinate an instructor group to provide support for BACR qualified instructors and those in the process of qualifying. Please contact us if you would like to be involved.