The Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Centre of the Northern Lisbon University Hospital Centre has been accredited by the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC), affiliated to the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), after undergoing a thorough evaluation process.

It is the first centre in Portugal, and one of the first in Europe, to obtain European accreditation as a Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre. This centre results from the joint effort involving the CHULN, the Faculty of Medicine and the University of Lisbon, responding over many years to many cardiovascular patients following acute events, from the initial period to the long term.

The accreditation process started in 2019 and is based on a set of minimum standards that must be met in order to improve the quality of cardiac rehabilitation in Europe and, thus, cardiovascular health. With the inclusion of European centres for secondary prevention and cardiovascular rehabilitation, it will be possible to standardize cardiovascular rehabilitation programmes and improve the quality of services provided.

A Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Cardiologist and Coordinator of the Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre of the CHULN/FMUL-UL, we asked Ana Abreu for an obviously happiness reaction.

"The recognition by the EAPC reviewers of the accreditation process of the Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre of the CHULN/FMUL-UL, having met the necessary standards defined by the EAPC, greatly honours us and crowns the efforts made to adapt the programme to what today is considered the state-of-the-art of rehabilitation care in the treatment of cardiovascular patients.

We would like this process to be extended to other national centres."

This accreditation confirms that it is increasingly important to guarantee quality in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

On behalf of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, we offer our congratulations!