Heart failure is a significant public health issue with a prevalence of over 2%, and is among the leading causes of hospital admission worldwide, particularly in those over-65 years. Patients with heart failure frequently require acute hospitalisation and are at increased risk of mortality (more than half of heart failure patients will die within five years of initial diagnosis, American Heart Association). The high hospital admission rate and readmission reduce quality of life and significantly drive up the costs of health care provision for these patients. Moreover, there is a high variability in the reported readmission rates across institutions and countries, indicating that the structure of health care delivery is variable and of significant importance to outcome in this population. This study sets out to investigate the most clinically effective and cost- efficient method of delivering care to patients with heart failure focusing on the phase immediately before hospital admission, the hospital stay and the immediate discharge period, through analysis of the current standards of practice in both Ireland and the United Kingdom.