33 Non-compliance with cardiac rehabilitation. A qualitative study

<h3>Background</h3> Poor compliance with cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programmes is a well described issue which could lead to suboptimal patient outcomes. <h3>Aim</h3> To ascertain attendance-related outcomes of patients who, without providing prior notice to the service, did not attend (DNA) two or more consecutive sessions of the phase 3 CR programme in Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital NHS Trust. <h3>Methods</h3> Patients were identified from CR programmes that ran in March, April and May 2024. Patients were followed up on the hospital electronic record system to verify participation status. Reasons for not restarting CR were ascertained by contacting patients via telephone. Permission was granted by the Trust Audit Department. <h3>Results</h3> In total, 82 patients were followed up. Forty-six (56%) of these patients restarted the programme after a reminder letter had been sent to them, whereas thirty-six patients did not respond and were subsequently discharged from the service. Of these patients, 18 (50%) were successfully contacted by phone to ascertain reasons for DNA. These included: clashes with work (N=4; 22%) or difficulty with transport (N=5; 28%), other health-related issues (N=3; 17%) or family issues (N=3; 17%). Three participants (17%) reported finding the programme ‘too easy’, three (17%) participants would consider on-line sessions, but the majority (N=15; 83%) preferred face to face sessions. Five patients (28%) wished to re-join the programme. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The present qualitative study served to identify attendance-related outcomes and reasons for not attending CR exercise sessions. Such findings need to be taken into consideration when considering service redesign.