Table 1.
Characteristics of participating sites at baseline
| Team | Allocation | Team location (setting) | Cardiac team clinical staffing | Type of cardiac rehabilitation programme offered (including usual psychological carea) | N patients assessed per monthb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | UC | Hospital (rural) | 7 nurses (2 full-time; 5 part-time) | Centre-based groups, Clinic-based individual appointments, Home-based programmes | 40 |
| B | UC | Community (rural) | 7 nurses (1 full-time; 6 part-time) | Centre-based groups – with some support from a clinical psychologist, Clinic-based individual appointments, Home-based programmes | 60 |
| C | UC | Community (rural) | 3 nurses (part-time), 1 team manager (part-time) | Centre-based groups | 12–16 |
| D | EPC | Community (rural/urban) | 2 nurses (1 full-time; 1 part-time) | Centre-based groups, Clinic-based individual appointments, Home-based programmes | 26 |
| E | EPC | Hospital (rural/urban) | 2 nurses (part-time) | Centre-based groups, Clinic-based individual appointments, Home-based programmes | 70 |
| F | EPC | Mixed hospital + community (urban) | 1 nurse (part-time) | Centre-based groups, Clinic-based individual appointments, Home-based programmes | 32 |
| G | EPC | Mixed hospital + community (inner-city) | 4 nurses (part-time) | Centre-based groups – limited psychological input via referral to community mental health workers, Clinic-based individual appointments, Home-based programmes | 33 |
| H | EPC | Mixed hospital + community (inner-city) | 6 nurses (part-time) | Centre-based groups, Clinic-based individual appointments – part-time clinical psychologist linked to team, Home-based programmes | 50–60 |
EPC Enhanced Psychological Care, UC usual care
aUnless stated there is no dedicated psychological support available (either within the team, or through an established referral pathway)
bData derived from the team profile questionnaire completed prior to randomisation. Teams reported the ‘average’ number of patients assessed per month