Staff from NHS Lanarkshire will show their support for Pulmonary Rehabilitation week which runs from the 17-21 June and aims to improve knowledge among healthcare staff regarding the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation.
Pulmonary rehab is a multi-disciplinary programme and one of the key recommended approaches in the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
The rehab sessions combine gentle physical exercise with discussion and advice on lung health and are designed to help manage the symptoms of lung conditions, including loss of breath.
There have been recent changes in the way the service runs, the main change being that it will only be the comprehensive assessment which will be carried out within NHS Lanarkshire’s three acute sites, where everything else will run in Blantyre Leisure Centre, the Time Capsule and Wishaw Sports Centre.
Jennifer McDonald, pulmonary rehab physiotherapist, for NHS Lanarkshire said: “The biggest change to the service is that we are taking it out of an acute setting and basing it within the community. It means that patients are more likely to attend as we refer to specialist classes the hope is they will keep going to the specialist classes and the clinic.”
The exercise component to pulmonary rehabilitation will still take place twice weekly with each of the three localities, Wishaw, Hamilton and Coatbridge, whereas the education component will be delivered separately. Each patient referred to pulmonary rehab is expected to attend two education sessions that cover a range of essential topics that will help better equip the patient in their self-management. The venues for these sessions are Hunter Heath Centre, Coatbridge and the Houldsworth Centre.
“One important change to highlight is that a patient can now be referred for “education only” if they have a diagnosis of COPD and an MRC score of less than 3.
“This means that those with a diagnosis of COPD who don’t present with functional breathlessness can still access the education sessions to better equip them in their self-management.”
Jennifer added: “During Pulmonary Rehabilitation week our main objective is to improve referrer awareness of what pulmonary rehab is and its vital role in the self-management of COPD”.
