How to achieve 2028 NHS England Long-Term Plan Targets for cardiac rehab

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Cardiac Rehabilitation team have hit the 2028 NHS targets for the past two years by adopting a new approach utilising the my mhealth app, myHeart.

 
Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) is one of the most clinically and cost-effective therapeutic interventions in cardiovascular disease management, reducing mortality and hospital admissions, whilst improving functional capacity and quality of life (1). The average number of patients who agree to be referred to CR in England is 50%, of whom 76% will go on to complete a programme (2). There are many reasons why people do not take up the offer, but one key factor is accessibility. NHS England has set a target for CR services to achieve an 85% uptake by 2028 (3). In support of achieving this target the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (BACPR) are calling for clinical services to consider alternative modes of delivery that maintain quality standards and patient outcomes, whilst providing greater flexibility (4).

In 2004, the Dorset CR service first introduced a menu-based CR delivery model which provided patients with a choice of either traditional in-person or home-based CR programmes. By 2016-17 the team had achieved a 20% increase in patient participation equating to a 70% annual patient uptake. However, the team "felt that there was still an unmet need, particularly for those who felt too vulnerable to travel to a CR group or could not accommodate a CR session during the day due to work or care-giving responsibilities."

In 2017, the Dorset CR team and my mhealth developed an innovative CR module within myHeart to offer patients a digital component to compliment both traditional in-person and home-based models of CR delivery. The impact of utilising myHeart for CR uptake can be seen in the table below, with the services already exceeding the NHSE targets for 2028:

 

In March 2020, most traditional in-person CR programmes were suspended due to Covid-19. There was a rapid demand to quickly identify and adopt alternative ways of delivering CR to patients. However, the team in Dorset, due to the increased flexibility and resilience of their service model, simply suspended traditional in-person CR delivery and offered patients one of the other available options. myHeart usage increased by 124 (23.7%) patients during the first Covid-19 wave and continues to be a popular option for patients with a further 32.4% opting to use it in the first three months of year 3. These results show that digital health can contribute to supporting CR services to achieve greater patient uptake and completion rates.


Cardiac Rehab Specialist Nurse Shaun Porter told us...


"The menu-based approach of cardiac rehabilitation, has allowed us to provide an individually appropriate cardiac rehabilitation service to all of our patients, irrespective of physical conditions, ability to travel, IT literacy or socio-economic status. This, coupled with our holistic cardiac event follow-up clinic, ensures that all patients are assessed and treated promptly and holistically following their cardiac event."


The digitally enhanced approach adopted in Dorset has increased uptake to Cardiac Rehabilitation to consistently achieve and surpass the NHS targets for 2028 and increase service resilience.


"The myHeart App has proved really popular with patients and complements the other group-based and individual treatment options the rehab team offer. More cardiac patients than ever before are now receiving some form of rehab thanks to developments such as myHeart, which is having a hugely positive impact on people’s recovery and quality of life."


If you want to find out more about how digitally enhanced cardiac rehab can help you meet the NHS England Long-Term Targets for cardiac rehab please get in touch here or call us on +44 (0)1202 299 583.


By Matt Fellows January 9, 2026
By Matt Fellows December 9, 2025
Your Feedback, Our Improvements We want to make sure our product is designed with your needs in mind. To achieve this, we regularly send out surveys and work closely with our Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) group, ensuring that your feedback directly shapes improvements and updates. We received 147 responses to our Research Community Survey .. said they found our app easy to use Overall, most of you said you had positive experiences of using the app .. said you would keep using it to manage your condition Our PPI activities have helped us to make important changes... Navigating around isn’t always that easy The home screen menu is now grouped into smaller sections with a ‘To Do’ list to help you stay on track Too many questions at the start makes it just too complicated Most of the questions at the start have now been removed so you can get started sooner We have now expanded the nutrition information which also contains a nutrition questionnaire to provide you with personalised advice There is not enough information on nutrition. Sometimes I forget to eat What we are working on We are creating a ‘Prepare for Your Appointment’ function in myCOPD and myAsthma We are planning to include a ‘Search’ function so you can get to what you need quickly Keep talking to us! Your experiences help us continue to improve.If you would like to share your thoughts or be part of our Patient and Public Involvement group, please join the Research Community. We would love to hear from you
By mymhealth Operations September 10, 2025
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A new partnership between leading digital health innovators, my mhealth and Patients Know Best (PKB) means shared NHS customers can streamline the delivery of their digital care tools, making it easier to empower patients to manage their health effectively. The collaboration brings together my mhealth’s award-winning self-management platforms with PKB’s personal health record solution, which is already embedded within the NHS App. “At the heart of this partnership is the patient,” said Dr. David Pettigrew, CEO of my mhealth . “By aligning our platforms, we’re enabling people to take greater control of their health while supporting clinicians with joined-up, efficient care pathways. It’s a significant step towards the NHS’s vision of a single ‘front door’ for digital health.” Key Benefits for Patients and the NHS: ● One seamless journey: Patients and clinicians benefit from a more unified experience across apps and services. ● Better outcomes through joined-up care: Shared access to data empowers more personalised and timely interventions. ● Greater access to services: Patients can engage with support tools and resources anytime, anywhere. ● Reduced clinical workload: Digitally enhanced care pathways streamline processes and free up clinical time. ● Scalable long-term condition support: Proven tools for managing COPD, asthma, diabetes, and more, integrated with national systems. ● Patient empowerment: Enabling people to be active participants in their health journey. This partnership also honours the early vision of digital health pioneer Dr Warner Slack, who said in the 1970s: “I hoped that the computer would help the doctor in the care of the patient. And in the back of my mind was the idea that the computer might actually help patients to help themselves with their medical problems.” Today , that vision is becoming reality - placing digital tools directly in the hands of patients and enabling a more connected, compassionate, and sustainable NHS. About my mhealth my mhealth provides evidence-based digital therapeutics for patients with long-term conditions including COPD, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Trusted by NHS organisations across the UK, their platforms deliver scalable self-management support and remote monitoring tools that improve outcomes and reduce healthcare burden. About Patients Know Best Patients Know Best is the World’s largest Personal Health Record (PHR) and patient engagement platform, integrating data feeds from over 550 health organisations and providers. The system connects information from GPs, hospitals, social and mental health care providers, to create a single, unified copy of patient data. Everything from appointments and letters to test results, care plans, real-time monitoring data and discharge summaries, as well as the patient’s own data, are all available in one patient record, enabling patients and healthcare professionals to access up-to-date health information anytime, anywhere. In the UK, the platform serves over 5 million patients, registering 100,000+ patients and releasing over 20 million test results a month. PKB integrates with the NHS App to provide a single front door for patients to access their information.
By July 2024 August 7, 2024
NHS University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, part of North Central London ICB, is taking a significant step towards enhancing patient empowerment and optimising disease management. Asthma is a chronic condition that affects millions of people worldwide, often leading to severe health complications if not managed properly. Recognising the critical need for effective self-management tools, NHS University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has chosen the myAsthma app to provide patients with the resources they need to take control of their health. Dr Kay Roy PhD FRCP, Consultant Respiratory Physician University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, comments “We are thrilled to introduce myAsthma as a self-management tool to our community. It represents a significant step forward in empowering our patients with asthma to take control of their health. By providing them with personalised support, we believe this tool will greatly improve their quality of life. Additionally, the use of myAsthma in outpatient settings will help triage patients more effectively, ensuring they are seen in a timely manner and appropriately referred for the right investigations and services. Our team is excited to see the positive impact this will have on the asthma population across North Central London ICB." The myAsthma app, part of the my mhealth suite of digital health solutions, is designed to empower patients with comprehensive tools and information to manage their asthma more effectively. Key features include: • Personalised Action Plans: Tailored asthma management plans based on individual patient needs. • Inhaler technique training: Contributing to better health outcomes and reduced risk of exacerbations • Medication Tracking: Reminders and logs to ensure patients take their medication as prescribed. • Symptom tracking: Easy-to-use tools for tracking symptoms and triggers. • Educational Resources: Access to a wealth of information on asthma, helping patients understand their condition and how to manage it. As more NHS partners embrace the my mhealth platform, we're thrilled to witness its growing impact and the positive changes it is bringing to long-term condition care. For more information on this article or other my mhealth projects, please get in touch https://mymhealth.com/contact-us
By Dev Ops August 7, 2024
The my mhealth data library is an extensive resource designed to support healthcare providers by offering a wealth of information and tools related to COPD and long-term health conditions.
By 2nd July 2024 August 7, 2024
Permission to use received from Rebecca Fowler View poster
By 13 May 2024 August 7, 2024
Henry M.G. Glyde1Alison M. Blythin2 Tom M.A. Wilkinson3Ian T. Nabney4 James W. Dodd5 EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Health and Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK my mHealth Limited, Bournemouth , UK my mHealth and Clinical and Experimental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK Academic Respiratory Unit, Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK Abstract Background Acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) are episodes of breathlessness, cough and sputum which are associated with the risk of hospitalisation, progressive lung function decline and death. They are often missed or diagnosed late . Accurate timely intervention can improve these poor outcomes. Digital tools can be used to capture symptoms and other clinical data in COPD. This study aims to apply machine learning to the largest available real-world digital dataset to identify AECOPD Prediction tool which could be used to support early intervention improve clinical outcomes. Objective To create and validate a machine learning predictive model that forecasts exacerbations of COPD 1-8 days in advance. The model is based on routine patient-entered data from myCOPD self-management app. Method Adaptations of the AdaBoost algorithm were employed as machine learning approaches. The dataset included 506 patients users between 2017-2021. 55,066 app records were available for stable COPD event labels and 1,263 records of AECOPD event labels. The data used for training the model included COPD assessment test (CAT) scores, symptom scores, smoking history, and previous exacerbation frequency. All exacerbation records used in the model were confined to the 1-8 days preceding a self-reported exacerbation event. Results TheEasyEnsemble Classifier resulted in a Sensitivity of 67.0% and a Specificity of 65% with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 5.0% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 98.9%. An AdaBoost model with a cost-sensitive decision tree resulted in a a Sensitivity of 35.0% and a Specificity of 89.0% with a PPV of 7.08% and NPV of 98.3%. Conclusion This preliminary analysis demonstrates that machine learning approaches to real-world data from a widely deployed digital therapeutic has the potential to predict AECOPD and can be used to confidently exclude the risk of exacerbations of COPD within the next 8 days. Permission to use received from Henry Glyde. Read more on Heliyon website.
By 5th October 2023 August 7, 2024
Charlotte Smith 1 Francesca D’angelo 2 University Hospital of Derby and Burton, Cardiac Rehabilitation Department, Burton Upon Trent, UK. University Hospital of Derby and Burton, Health and Wellbeing Department, Burton, UK To examine the effectiveness of physical activity outcomes using a web-based Cardiac Rehabilitation application compared with a conventional programme or a combination of both. University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust poster presented at the BACPR Annual Conference October 5-6th 2023 Permission to use received from Charlotte Smith
By 5th October 2023 August 7, 2024
Francesca D’angelo 1 Charlotte Smith 2 University Hospital of Derby and Burton, Health and Wellbeing Department, Burton, UK University Hospital of Derby and Burton, Cardiac Rehabilitation Department, Burton Upon Trent, UK. To examine the effectiveness of psychological outcomes using a web-based Cardiac Rehabilitation application compared with a conventional programme or a combination of both. University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust poster presented at the BACPR Annual Conference October 5-6th 2023 Poster presented at the BACPR Annual Conference October 5-6th 2023 Permission to use received from Charlotte Smith