BACPR/NACR Certification
The National Certification Programme for Cardiac Rehabilitation (NCP_CR) is a joint project between the BACPR and NACR that has been running for nearly four years. Since 2018, certification standards for all programmes in England, Northern Ireland and Wales have been reported as part of the NACR Quality and Outcomes Report.
What does ‘minimum standard’ mean?
The updated BACPR Standards & Core Components were published in 2023, and represent agreed national standards for the delivery of CR in the UK. Over the past few years, there has been a growing emphasis on quality assurance of services across the NHS. However, through NACR data analyses and published research it’s clear that while a good proportion of cardiovascular disease prevention and rehabilitation programmes in the UK do meet quality standards, others are at less than optimal levels of service delivery.
The NCP_CR, Steering Group strives to make the certification process: easy to access, attainable and ensure the process is equitable. Before any programme can be assessed against NCP_CR Key Performance Indicators they must be entering data into the National Audit for Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR).
The KPIs (below) are based on NCP_CR agreed standards that are informed by the BACPR Standards and Core Components (2023). Certification is achieved through meeting all 7 KPIs:
There are 3 Minimum Standards (KPIs 1-3) and 4 Standards based on national averages (KPIs 4-7)
Information on staffing profile and MDT is taken from the NACR Staffing Survey sent out by email each year to programme primary contacts. The information for this KPI is not collected on the NACR database. In order for certification to be validated each CR team must complete and submit the online NACR Staffing Survey.
Programmes are categorised according to the number of KPIs they meet each year:
Green: Meeting all 7 minimum standards (‘certified’)
Amber: Meeting 4-6 minimum standards
Red: Meeting 1-3 minimum standards
Fail: Meeting 0 standards or not entering data on NACR
The current NCP_CR Certification Supplement and Report give details of programmes’ status. Previous years’ reports are available in our Reports Archive.
NCP_CR quality appraisal is an annual process meaning that each year there will be an updated version of the supplement showing the extent to which programmes meet the KPIs and their certification status. All current certification will finish on publication of the next year’s NCP_CR Report, at which point all confirmed certified sites will be informed of their new status. For current list of certified sites please click here.
If you have any queries regarding your programme’s NACR data, please contact Nerina Onion (nerina.onion@york.ac.uk)