AzTrials
AzTrials

Cardiac SurgeryCARENCT07611045

CARE Qualitative Study

An observational study of Cardiac Surgery, run by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust at 1 site in United Kingdom.

Recruiting

Looking for participants now. Contact the study team or a site below to ask about taking part.

Sites and contacts
Official record
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Trial 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. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Cardiac Surgery
How many people
24 participants
Where
1 siteUnited Kingdom
Study dates
27 May 2026to 31 Mar 2027
How long will I take part?
1 Day
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

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

Who may be able to join

  • 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

Who cannot join

  • 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

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

Elizabeth Lumley contact

07955404384

e.lumley@sheffield.ac.uk

Georgia Parker contact

01173425097

georgia.parker@uhbw.nhs.uk

United Kingdom1 site, 1 recruiting

  • University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

    Bristol, Bristol, BS13NU

    Recruiting

Other trials in United Kingdom

About this study

Official title: Cardiac Surgery Aftercare and Recovery Evaluation (CARE) - Understanding Patients' and Carers' Views About the Care Received After Leaving Hospital Following Cardiac Surgery: a Qualitative Study

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

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  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.

    Measured: Through study completion, an average on 1 month

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted28 May 2026
  2. Study start27 May 2026
  3. Primary completion31 Mar 2027 (estimated)
  4. Study completion31 Mar 2027 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Other
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
24 participants (estimated)
Target duration
1 Day
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT07611045
Sponsor's protocol ID
CS/2025/7856
Other IDs
NIHR209618
Acronym
CARE
Status last verified
May 2026
First submitted
22 Apr 2026
Last updated
5 Jun 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

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

  • 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/

    PubMed 26937535

  • 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.

    PubMed 21762418

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

  • 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.

    PubMed 31955934

  • 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

  • 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.

    PubMed 30414830

  • 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.

    PubMed 18694657

  • 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.

    PubMed 37727042

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

  • 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.

    PubMed 40309684

  • 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.

    PubMed 39215972

  • 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.

    PubMed 31104778

  • 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.

    PubMed 25173721

  • 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.

    PubMed 31972128

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Cardiac Surgery, run by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust at 1 site in United Kingdom.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 5 Jun 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United Kingdom. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact Elizabeth Lumley (07955404384, e.lumley@sheffield.ac.uk), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

What aftercare do patients undergoing cardiac surgery currently receive after discharge from hospital and what kind of aftercare do they want? (time frame: Through study completion, an average on 1 month). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT07611045, which also lists 20 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 5 Jun 2026.

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