ICARe-HF - Improving Care through Accreditation and Recognition in Heart Failure - a European Society of Cardiology and Heart Failure Association international accreditation programme.
“ICARe-HF is creating a ‘gold standard’ in heart failure services across the HFA’s network of National Heart Failure Societies and Working Groups in Europe. It will give centres status, attract new talent and may also act as a lever to access tools such as NTproBNP that may not currently be available. It could also persuade commissioners to invest where needed to improve patient care.”
Dr. Lisa Anderson, St. George's, University of London & St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
This innovative programme evaluates individual centre performances in heart failure against recognised standards of care developed by the ESC guidelines and the HF Specialist Curriculum. Centres meeting or exceeding these standards will be accredited as an HFA Quality of Care Centre (QCC).
The ICAR-e HF programme is supported in the UK by the BSH.
Introduction
The Heart Failure team at Craigavon Area Hospital, Portadown, led by Professor Patricia Campbell (Consultant Cardiologist and Heart Failure Lead in Northern Ireland) acted as a test site for the UK, and are now an accredited Specialised QCC
“Our team acted as test site for the UK, and are now an accredited Specialised QCC. I highly recommend applying – the benefits of accreditation are multi-fold and outlined below, but an immediate effect for our team was a significant boost in morale with recognition of the quality of the work that our multidisciplinary team members undertake striving for excellence in patient care.”
Professor Patricia Campbell, MRCPI, FESC, Consultant Cardiologist and Clinical Lead for Heart Failure, Northern Ireland
The Programme
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Your institution HF lead should complete the online application at ICARe-HF - Recognising excellence in heart failure, supplying details on staffing, procedural capabilities, SOPs on HF pathways and performance measures etc, CVs of all integral staff, and a letter of motivation.
The application requires a letter of support from the British Society for Heart Failure, and this is facilitated through our Regional Leads, who will review the application and liaise with the BSH Chair.
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Your BSH Regional Led will review the submitted documents and confirm their accuracy and completeness.
Once details have been checked by the BSH Staff Team, the Regional Lead will provide your information and their recommendation to the BSH Chair of the Board. Our Chair will then complete your Letter of Support
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Once your completed application and BSH Letter of Support from the BSH have been received, the accreditation consists of two components:
1. Pre-accreditation: validation of the centre’s category based on structural criteria, including patient types, setting, accessibility, portfolio, equipment, and staffing.
2. Data Collection: evaluation of performance and adherence to ESC Guidelines. This will be evaluated through mandatory participation in the GRASP-HF Snapshot Study, a repetitive snapshot with a yearly short enrolment period, to capture the relevant clinical information of patients with HF, including their acute episodes of decompensation.
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Once your final accreditation status has been received, your centre will be publicised in our Register of Accredited QCCs shown below.
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The process of accreditation is about raising standards, meaning centres will continue to get feedback to identify gaps in education and research and will receive recommendations on how to bridge these.
If accredited, HFA Quality of Care Centres will benefit from:
Recognition of their quality of care at a European level
Improved information for referral sources and patients on the categorisation of the centre
Access to a network of HFA Accredited Centres in Europe
Listed on the ESC/HFA webpage as an accredited site
Publicised in the BSH Register of Accredited UK Sites shown below.
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Our thanks to the BSH Regional Leads for giving up their time to support this valuable programme
NI lead: Edith Donnelly - edith.donnelly@southerntrust.hscni.net
England lead: Rebecca Hyland - rebecca.hyland1@nhs.net
Wales lead: Mandie Welch - Mandie.Welch@wales.nhs.uk
Scotland lead: Leeanne Macklin - leeanne.macklin@nhs.scot
Accreditation Requirements
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Examination beds + O2 monitoring
Resuscitation facilities
NT-proBNP access
ABGs on site
ECG on site
Min of 2 cardiologists and 2 nurses
Availability of other specialists (renal/endocrine/resp/cardiac surgeon)
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24/7 cath lab and PPCI
CCU in site
NT-proBNP access
Min of 3 cardiologists and 3 nurses
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24/7 cath lab with PPCI
24/7 cardiac surgery including LVAD/BiVAD and Tx
On site EP/ablation
There are different requirements depending on the level of accreditation you are applying for. Check here to see what is necessary at your particular centre.
Contact us if you have any questions.
