Pulmonary rehabilitation service

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a programme of exercise and education for people with respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis.  

The programme includes 12 supervised sessions run over six weeks by qualified health professionals. It is important that you attend all 12 sessions in order to gain the most benefit from the course. 

Why exercise is important

When you suffer with a breathing problem becoming short of breath can be very frightening and uncomfortable and so you may naturally try to avoid activities that make you breathless. Over time this can result in you reducing the amount of activity that you do. This can lead to your muscles becoming weak, to you becoming increasingly unfit and ultimately more breathless.

This can then make it more difficult for you to do the activities you used to do and so may reduce your quality of life.

Pulmonary rehabilitation can help break this vicious cycle of reduced activity and increased breathlessness.

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The benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation

Pulmonary rehabilitation can help by:

  • reducing your breathlessness
  • increasing the muscle strength in your arms and legs
  • increasing your stamina and endurance
  • giving you a better understanding of your condition
  • increasing your confidence in your own abilities to control your symptoms, such as breathlessness
  • increasing independence in your everyday life
  • improving your health-related quality of life.

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Our pulmonary rehab programme

The programme is run by qualified health professionals from Southend Hospital who specialise in lung conditions and is conducted over 6 weeks with two sessions per week (12 sessions in total)

Each of the 12 sessions are two hours long. The first hour is an exercise session tailored to your own abilities followed by an education session covering a variety of useful topics.

The classes are run in small groups of approximately 10 to 12 people who all have a long-term lung condition.

Course locations

The pulmonary rehabilitation programme is run at three locations in this area so you can choose the course that suits you best. Each course is run in exactly the same way.

Southend Hospital course

This course is held in Gym 1 in the physiotherapy department at Southend Hospital on Tuesdays between 10.30am and 12.30pm and Thursdays between 10am and 12noon.

St Luke’s course

This course is held in St Luke’s Church Hall, St Luke’s Road, Southend, SS2 4AB on:

  • Wednesdays between 10.15am and 12.15pm and Fridays between 11.15am and 1.15pm, or
  • Wednesdays between 11.30am and 1.30pm  and  Fridays between 12.30pm and 2.30pm.

Canvey course

This course is held in Waterside farm leisure centre, Somnes Ave, Canvey Island, SS8 9RA on Tuesdays and Thursday between 1pm and 3pm.

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Referrals to our service

You can be referred for pulmonary rehabilitation by your:

  • GP or practice nurse
  • community nursing team
  • hospital specialist doctor/Nurse
  • nurse or doctor during an admission to hospital
  • healthcare professional that you have contact with.

Please ask any of the above professionals that you see for a referral to pulmonary rehabilitation.

Process after being referred

Once you have been referred for pulmonary rehabilitation, you will be contacted by a member of the team within a few weeks. They will ask you a few questions about your general health, the medication you are taking and how you are managing with your lung condition. They will then explain the programme in more detail and arrange for you to attend for an initial appointment.

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Your initial appointment

Before attending the course, you will be invited to attend one of the above locations for an initial appointment. The location that you attend will be your own choice.

This appointment will include a short walking test and a simple leg muscle strength test which will help us to work out the correct level of exercise to start you at. After this assessment you will then be given a date to start the course which should be in a couple of weeks depending on the location that you choose.

You will be encouraged to do some exercise at home as well to help to increase your activity. This will be discussed with you. 

It is important that you attend all 12 sessions in order to gain the most benefit from the course. If you miss a session this can be added onto the end of the six weeks so you don’t miss out.

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Alternatives to attending classes

Alternative options are available if you feel that it may be difficult to attend twice a week for six weeks at the moment:

  • Virtual pulmonary rehab – classes can be delivered remotely. You will access these sessions online from your own home via your computer or tablet. These are live sessions delivered by the team allowing you to perform the exercises at home, whilst being supervised remotely, and also to listen to education sessions. As with the face-to-face programmes the classes run twice a week with each session lasting for two hours. These sessions run on a Tuesday and Friday. Times vary according to demand – you will be advised on this during your assessment session.
  • Pulmonary rehab home programme – you will carry out the exercises on your own at home, over a six week period. You will receive a pack of written educational information. During the six weeks you will receive four phone calls from the team to help to monitor your progress with the exercises and answer any questions.

With both of these alternative options you will still attend an initial face to face appointment at one of the locations above so that we can accurately assess your abilities and safely design your exercise programme.

Please discuss this with a member of the team when they call.

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After completing the course

When you have finished your course, you will be invited to a final face to face session to repeat the exercise tests that you performed at your initial appointment. This will allow you to see the improvements that you have made.

You will be encouraged to continue to exercise to maintain and improve your general fitness. An individualised plan will be developed with you at the end of the course.

There are several ways in which this can be achieved, including:

  • a home exercise programme
  • going to a local gym
  • going to an exercise group.

We will discuss these options with you while you are attending the programme.

We also encourage people to join the local support groups, held monthly, run by people with long term lung conditions.

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Useful links

Asthma and Lung UK - https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk 

Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation - https://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org 

Action for PF – https://www.actionpf.org

Breathe Easy Support Group (Southend) - visit https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/help/support-network/southend-breathe-easy-support-group-affiliated-asthma-lung-uk every first Wednesday of every month between 1pm and 3pm. These are held at St Edmunds Hall, St Edmunds Close, Southend, SS2 4AS. For more information, email breatheeasysouthend@hotmail.co.uk.