CARE Qualitative Study

NCT07611045 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: CS/2025/7856NIHR209618
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 24
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Over 30,000 people have heart surgery in the UK every year. Heart surgery is safe, but around 1 in 5 people having heart surgery will be readmitted to hospital in the year after their operation. There is no research that explains why they come back into hospital. It may be because they have a complication from the heart surgery, such as an irregular heart rhythm. Or it may be because they have other health problems which the heart surgery has made worse. Researchers want to find out what care is provided to people after heart surgery and what participants and healthcare staff think should be offered to prevent people coming back to hospital. The overall aim of this Programme Development Grant is to undertake preparatory work that will allow researchers to identify the best approach to improve care after hospital discharge for people having heart surgery.

Conditions

Cardiac Surgery

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• What aftercare do patients undergoing cardiac surgery currently receive after discharge from hospital and what kind of aftercare do they want?

  The aim of this study is to identify via questionnaire what aftercare patients, families/carers, want after cardiac surgery and what the barriers are to accessing it.

  Through study completion, an average on 1 month

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Any eligible participant/family/carer being seen as an outpatient at the study sites

You may qualify if:

• Patients who have had elective or urgent cardiac surgery such as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, heart valve surgery, aortic surgery (thoracic aorta) within the last 12 months
• Family members/carers of patients who have had cardiac surgery in the last 12 months.
• Patients who are no longer undergoing inpatient or outpatient follow-up by their cardiac surgeon

You may not qualify if:

• Patients who have had cardiac transplantation
• Patients who are still undergoing follow-up by their cardiac surgery team
• People who are unable to provide informed consent
• Prisoners

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust: lead
• University of Sheffield: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Bristol, Bristol, BS13NU, United Kingdom

RECRUITING

Related Publications (20)

• Royal College of Surgeons: EDI Toolkit for Cardiovascular Research: https://leicesterbrc.nihr.ac.uk/cadio-ppi-event/

  BACKGROUND

• Sahota O, Pulikottil-Jacob R, Marshall F, Montgomery A, Tan W, Sach T, Logan P, Kendrick D, Watson A, Walker M, Waring J. Comparing the cost-effectiveness and clinical effectiveness of a new community in-reach rehabilitation service with the cost-effectiveness and clinical effectiveness of an established hospital-based rehabilitation service for older people: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial with microcost and qualitative analysis - the Community In-reach Rehabilitation And Care Transition (CIRACT) study. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2016 Feb. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK344359/

  PMID: 26937535 BACKGROUND

• Mottram A. 'They are marvellous with you whilst you are in but the aftercare is rubbish': a grounded theory study of patients' and their carers' experiences after discharge following day surgery. J Clin Nurs. 2011 Nov;20(21-22):3143-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03763.x. Epub 2011 Jul 18.

  PMID: 21762418 BACKGROUND

• Ritchie J, Spencer L: Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research., Analysing qualitative data, Routledge, 1994 - 2004

  BACKGROUND

• Ogawa M, Satomi-Kobayashi S, Yoshida N, Tsuboi Y, Komaki K, Wakida K, Gotake Y, Izawa KP, Sakai Y, Okada K. Effects of acute-phase multidisciplinary rehabilitation on unplanned readmissions after cardiac surgery. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2021 May;161(5):1853-1860.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2019.11.069. Epub 2019 Dec 9.

  PMID: 31955934 BACKGROUND

• Sanders J, Wynne R, Martorella G, Fredericks S: An International Focus on Cardiac Surgery Nursing: Patient Experience. British Journal of Cardiac Nursing 2020; 15: 1-4

  BACKGROUND

• Helder MRK, Schaff HV, Hanson KT, Thiels CA, Dearani JA, Daly RC, Maltais S, Habermann EB. Patient Experience After Cardiac Surgery: Identifying Areas for Improvement. Ann Thorac Surg. 2019 Mar;107(3):780-786. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2018.09.049. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

  PMID: 30414830 BACKGROUND

• Sampson F, O'Cathain A, Goodacre S. Feeling fixed and its contribution to patient satisfaction with primary angioplasty: a qualitative study. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2009 Jun;8(2):85-90. doi: 10.1016/j.ejcnurse.2008.07.003. Epub 2008 Aug 9.

  PMID: 18694657 BACKGROUND

• Makino A, Nakata S, Yoshida T. Experiences and care needs of post-discharge patients who underwent cardiac surgery: A qualitative study. Jpn J Nurs Sci. 2024 Jan;21(1):e12561. doi: 10.1111/jjns.12561. Epub 2023 Sep 19.

  PMID: 37727042 BACKGROUND

• National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation 2022. NHS Digital. Available from: http://www.cardiacrehabilitation.org.uk/docs/2022%20Quality%20and%20Outcomes%20Report% 202022%20Final.pdf.

  BACKGROUND

• Chan J, Narayan P, Dong T, Fudulu DP, Angelini GD; CVD-COVID-UK/COVID-IMPACT Consortium. Hospital readmission after heart valve surgery in the United Kingdom. JTCVS Open. 2025 Feb 10;24:239-255. doi: 10.1016/j.xjon.2025.02.001. eCollection 2025 Apr.

  PMID: 40309684 BACKGROUND

• O'Brien B, Campbell NG, Allen E, Jamal Z, Sturgess J, Sanders J, Opondo C, Roberts N, Aron J, Maccaroni MR, Gould R, Kirmani BH, Gibbison B, Kunst G, Zarbock A, Kleine-Bruggeney M, Stoppe C, Pearce K, Hughes M, Van Dyck L, Evans R, Montgomery HE, Elbourne D; TIGHT K investigators. Potassium Supplementation and Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery: The TIGHT K Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2024 Sep 24;332(12):979-988. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.17888.

  PMID: 39215972 BACKGROUND

• Khoury H, Sanaiha Y, Rudasill SE, Mardock AL, Sareh S, Benharash P. Readmissions Following Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery in the United States (from the Nationwide Readmissions Database 2010 to 2014). Am J Cardiol. 2019 Jul 15;124(2):205-210. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2019.04.018. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

  PMID: 31104778 BACKGROUND

• Iribarne A, Chang H, Alexander JH, Gillinov AM, Moquete E, Puskas JD, Bagiella E, Acker MA, Mayer ML, Ferguson TB, Burks S, Perrault LP, Welsh S, Johnston KC, Murphy M, DeRose JJ, Neill A, Dobrev E, Baio KT, Taddei-Peters W, Moskowitz AJ, O'Gara PT. Readmissions after cardiac surgery: experience of the National Institutes of Health/Canadian Institutes of Health research cardiothoracic surgical trials network. Ann Thorac Surg. 2014 Oct;98(4):1274-80. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2014.06.059. Epub 2014 Aug 28.

  PMID: 25173721 BACKGROUND

• Hirji SA, Percy ED, Zogg CK, Vaduganathan M, Kiehm S, Pelletier M, Kaneko T. Thirty-Day Nonindex Readmissions and Clinical Outcomes After Cardiac Surgery. Ann Thorac Surg. 2020 Aug;110(2):484-491. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2019.11.042. Epub 2020 Jan 21.

  PMID: 31972128 BACKGROUND

• Shawon MSR, Lujic S, Joshi Y, Jorm L. Readmission destination following cardiac surgery and its association with mortality outcomes: a population-based retrospective study. Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2024 Sep 4;51:101189. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2024.101189. eCollection 2024 Oct.

  PMID: 39295852 BACKGROUND

• Lai FY, Gibbison B, O'Cathain A, Akowuah E, Cleland JG, Angelini GD, King C, Murphy GJ, Pufulete M. Inequalities in access to and outcomes of cardiac surgery in England: retrospective analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics (2010-2019). Heart. 2024 Oct 10;110(21):1262-1269. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2024-324292.

  PMID: 39227164 BACKGROUND

• Lai FY, Abbasciano RG, Tabberer B, Kumar T, Murphy GJ; Steering Group of the James Lind Alliance Heart Surgery Priority Setting Partnership. Identifying research priorities in cardiac surgery: a report from the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership in adult heart surgery. BMJ Open. 2020 Sep 3;10(9):e038001. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038001.

  PMID: 32883735 BACKGROUND

• NHS England: National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit, 2024 https://www.nicor.org.uk/interactive-reports/national-adult-cardiac-surgery-audit-nacsa

  BACKGROUND

• Shawon MSR, Odutola M, Falster MO, Jorm LR. Patient and hospital factors associated with 30-day readmissions after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Cardiothorac Surg. 2021 Jun 10;16(1):172. doi: 10.1186/s13019-021-01556-1.

  PMID: 34112216 BACKGROUND

Central Study Contacts

Elizabeth Lumley

CONTACT

07955404384; e.lumley@sheffield.ac.uk

Georgia Parker

CONTACT

01173425097; georgia.parker@uhbw.nhs.uk

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Target Duration: 1 Day
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 22, 2026
• First Posted: May 28, 2026
• Study Start: May 27, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 31, 2027
• Last Updated: June 5, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)