The oppor­tu­ni­ty

Car­diac reha­bil­i­ta­tion (CR) is a super­vised pro­gram that helps peo­ple recov­er and improve heart health after events like heart attacks, heart surgery, heart fail­ure or atri­al fib­ril­la­tion. It offers per­son­alised sup­port includ­ing exer­cise, diet advice, risk man­age­ment and emo­tion­al wellbeing. 

In South Aus­tralia, access to CR isn’t always time­ly or con­sis­tent and remains a chal­lenge. Fac­tors such as geo­graph­ic loca­tion, hos­pi­tal path­ways and refer­ral delays can sig­nif­i­cant­ly impact how quick­ly patients receive care, often result­ing in missed oppor­tu­ni­ties for recov­ery and increased long-term risk. 

Our Approach

Recog­nis­ing the grow­ing need for a con­sis­tent CR mod­el in South Aus­tralia, the Car­diac Care SCN has ini­ti­at­ed the devel­op­ment of a coor­di­nat­ed, inte­grat­ed and acces­si­ble mod­el of care. 

This project builds on the Car­diac Care SCN’s pri­or work, includ­ing a map­ping and gap analy­sis of statewide CR ser­vices, as well as pre­vi­ous­ly devel­oped mod­els, frame­works and guide­lines. It also relies heav­i­ly on col­lab­o­ra­tion with key stake­hold­ers — clin­i­cal experts, researchers and con­sumer representatives. 

Part­ners

Recog­nis­ing the grow­ing need for a con­sis­tent CR mod­el in South Aus­tralia, the Car­diac Care SCN has ini­ti­at­ed the devel­op­ment of a coor­di­nat­ed, inte­grat­ed and acces­si­ble mod­el of care.

• Car­diac Care SCN
• Car­diac Care SCN Car­diac Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Coalition 
• Car­diac Care SCN Car­diac Rehab Mod­el of Care Work­ing Group

Out­comes

We’re imag­in­ing a sys­tem where car­diac reha­bil­i­ta­tion is struc­tured, acces­si­ble, and equi­table — espe­cial­ly for rur­al, remote, and Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ties across South Aus­tralia — help­ing to reduce the bur­den of coro­nary heart dis­ease and improve long-term health outcomes.

Doc­u­ments and Resources

• MyHeart MyLife
• Aus­tralia Clin­i­cal Guide­line for Diag­nos­ing and Man­ag­ing Acute Coro­nary Syn­drome
• Statewide CR Mod­el of Care | Coun­try Heart Attack Pre­ven­tion (CHAP) Project
• About car­diac reha­bil­i­ta­tion ser­vices | Queens­land Health

Have a Question? 

Or want to learn more? Please email CEIHCardiacCare@​sa.​gov.​au.