Pulmonary rehabilitation is a group programme to help people with a lung condition or breathing problem.
It includes exercise sessions and advice about how to manage your condition and control your symptoms and breathlessness.
- Improve your muscle strength and use the oxygen you breathe better.
- Help you to walk further and to become fitter.
- Help you to feel less breathless and recover from breathlessness quicker.
- Feel happier in your wellbeing, and more confident.
- Reduce the risk of having to come to hospital.
At your first appointment, a specialist physiotherapist will ask you some questions about how your breathing affects your life. They will ask about any other medical problems you may have.
If pulmonary rehabilitation is right for you, we will ask to see you again for a walking test and muscle strength tests. These tests help us to set the right amount of exercise for you when you start the exercise sessions.
Before starting in the group, we will also help you to fill in some questionnaires about your breathing.
There are exercise sessions twice a week for 6 weeks. We ask you to attend as many sessions as you can. This is so you get as much benefit as possible.
Everyone in the group will also have a lung condition and trouble with breathlessness
We will show you how to do each exercise at the right level for your breathing. We will be there to guide you, but you are always in control and you can stop and rest whenever you like.
We will teach you to recover from breathlessness and control your breathing.
We run sessions in different places.
Northumberland
- Alnwick
- Ashington
- Berwick
- Hexham
North Tyneside
- Howdon
- North Shields
- Whitley Bay
The days and times of each session varies by centre.
We will help you choose the right sessions for you. We will ask you to attend 2 exercise sessions a week for 6 weeks.
We will also ask you to do an exercise session or some activity at home. We can provide a DVD or YouTube link to help you with this.
Please wear comfortable clothing and flat shoes for all yourappointments.
Please bring your inhalers and GTN spray (if you have one) to all your appointments.
During your appointments, your belongings will stay with you. Please note that the trust cannot accept responsibility for the loss of, or damage to, personal property on site.
We also provide education sessions that you can do from the hospital and at home. These will provide you with information about:
- your lung condition
- the benefits of exercise
- how to control your breathing and recover from breathlessness
- your medications
- how to recognise a flare-up of your lung condition and how to manage it
- how to clear your chest of phlegm if that is a problem for you
- how to reduce any anxiety about being breathless
- how to pace yourself when doing daily activities that make you breathless
At the end of your programme, we will ask you to re-do the walk tests and questionnaires that you did at the start.
We will give you your own exercise plan and advice for after the programme.
If you have any questions at any time, please speak to your respiratory physiotherapist.
It is our ambition to deliver an up-to-date and effective pulmonary rehabilitation pathway that supports people living with chronic respiratory disease in Northumberland and North Tyneside.
Through education and exercise, we aim to help people to be more confident, active, and independent in their daily life.
We are committed to providing an inclusive, enjoyable, effective service that offers patients opportunity to improve their functional ability, quality of life and self-management of breathlessness and other symptoms of chronic lung disease.
We run continuous audit to monitor outcomes and identify service improvement opportunities. We ask for patient satisfaction feedback to ensure that the service remains patient-centred.
We work in partnership with local authorities to provide service users with the tools to regain independence and facilitate socioeconomic growth.
Our team is led by a senior specialist physiotherapist, supported by a principal physiotherapist (manager) for respiratory.
The team includes specialist physiotherapists and pulmonary rehabilitation instructors who work closely together to provide equity across the service.
The pulmonary rehabilitation team follows the trust's values. Service improvement opportunities can be identified by any member of the team, discussed and if agreed, implemented across the trust to ensure a consistent and effective service.
We are committed to delivering high-quality care helping you to become more confident, stronger and manage your breathing better. We will teach you about managing your lung condition so that you can continue to be active after the pulmonary rehabilitation programme, to help you maintain the improvements you have made throughout your care with us.
Please let us know if you are unable to attend an appointment.
If you do not attend an appointment without telling us, we will try to contact you via telephone or letter. If you do not attend two appointments without discussing it with us, you will be discharged from the service.
If you do not wish to continue with the programme, please contact us so we can discuss this with you.
If you have any questions at any time, please speak to the physiotherapist.
Pulmonary rehabilitation is a group programme. If you wish to discuss any aspect of your care privately, please let the physiotherapist leading the session know.
The pulmonary rehabilitation team will treat you with respect, empathy and professionalism during your programme. Please note that Northumbria adopts a zero-tolerance approach to aggression or violence towards staff members.