Pulmonary Rehabilitation, and other courses.

[johnwr]

This article started life as a reply to a piece Sillywitch wrote about three weeks ago. I've since realised that it could be relevant to other people as well, so pinched it back, and here it is. This info is good for those in Wales. The situation may be different for those in other parts of the UK.

I live in Mid Wales near Newtown. My 'local' A & E is at Aberystwyth (an hour at night in an ambulance with blue lights). I am currently having a One to One physio course twice a week, at the local clinic/hospital in Newtown, to run until the next rehab course starts in Sept. I do a selection of exercises as recommended for the rehab course, and mostly am feeling benefits from it. I believe there are expected to be 10 or 12 on the rehab course which will run for 10 weeks. From there, we go on to the National Excercise Referral Scheme, (NERS), which is run in local gymnasia. For info on NERS look at:

physicalactivityandnutritio...

How to get on these. For the one on one course. Recommendation from my Respiratory Nurse to my GP that a structured exercise programme would be beneficial, and could be cost effective in reducing drugs used. GP agreed so prescibed a course of exercise, and wrote to local head physioterrorist and told them to arrange.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Course. This is funded by the local Health Authority, And organised jointly by the local BLF respiratory nurse and the local Physiotherapy Dept. After they ran a pilot course two years ago, on follow ups, they (the administrators) found it to be cost beneficial, so now fighting for funding is not so hard as it might have been. This course consists of two excercise sessions each week where your performance in various exercises is noted, as well as relevant info like recovery times, or O2 sat levels, etc. On one of these days, we will also have discussion sessions on various relevant topics, as well as guest speakers for those topics.

NERS. In our area, NERS is regarded as a follow-on for patients who have had either one on one physio treatment, or have been on a rehab course. I don't know if it is time limited. I believe that so far funding is secure until April 2014.

Update:

More info about the NERS scheme is on this link

wlga.gov.uk/ners

The Scheme operates in all 22 local authorities in Wales and runs for 16 consecutive weeks and consists of 2 fully supervised group-based sessions each week. Each session lasts for approximately one-hour and cost £1.50. The sessions are usually run in Leisure or Community centres but there are some outdoor opportunities available in most areas

Hope this helps a bit.

breathe easy

johnwr

[Hidden]

John, great blog, and I'm sure others will appreciate it, however, the point of sillywitches blog was more to do with there being a lack of public transport to get to and from hospital PR courses, and more to do with them being held more locally.

Like I said, good blog, and good information - oops that should say, good post LOL

Sandra x x x

[scrobbitty]

Excellent post John and hopefully now the pink bar issue is resolved you will actually get this ! xx

[Hidden]

Johnwr, I attended an introductory course today, and feel optimistic about it. Trouble is, I have just about had it by the time the evening comes. No go, I have found your Breathing exercises explained about 8 months ago, which were so goo.