Column: Lung conditions, NHS waiting lists and pulmonary rehabilitation

Sioned Williams MS writes about her recent visit to a Pulmonary Rehabilitation centre in Waunceirch, Neath

A photograph of Sioned Williams' article as it appeared in the Western Mail.

This article was published in the Western Mail on Monday 18 November 2024.

 

Lung conditions, NHS waiting lists and pulmonary rehabilitation

Lung conditions affect 1 in 5 people in Wales. If we want NHS waiting lists to come down in the long-term then Welsh Government needs to look more seriously at those measures that stop people needing hospital in the future. Ask a health professional and three things will come up again and again: Vaccinations, stopping smoking and pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). 

I recently spent the afternoon with a specialist Pulmonary Rehabilitation Service team from Swansea Bay University Health Board to find out more about what they do, and why it’s so effective at maintaining people’s quality of life.  

PR (pulmonary rehabilitation) helps people with lung disease breathe and live better. The approach from the team at Swansea Bay health board looks at all aspects of a person’s life – mental, emotional and social, as well as their physical health. Patients referred to the service can participate in talks, walks and exercise classes. 

The session I attended was at a local community centre in Waunceirch, Neath, and started with a group exercise class which began and ended seated on chairs. Even when the exercises required participants to stand, team members were on hand ready to tailor the movements to suit the individual. This was followed by an educational talk on lung health, while the patients enjoyed a cuppa and some biscuits. The sessions were clearly very social occasions.

The specialists assigned to the PR service range from respiratory nurses and dietitians, to occupational therapists, physiotherapists and exercise instructors.

When I talked to the patients they all agreed they’d seen benefits. They said it’s not just the improvements in their health, it’s the confidence that the service gives them in their own capabilities, the practical advice in handling lung attacks, and for some, it just gets them out of the house. One man told me that it’s not even about whether his health was getting better – the importance is it’s not getting worse, and prior to attending, he’d been seeing a year on year decline in his lung health. 

Also present was the charity Asthma and Lung UK, who have long campaigned for pan-Wales pulmonary rehabilitation. They told me that 74,000 people in Wales are currently diagnosed with COPD, which is the most common condition which benefits from PR. They’ve calculated that if only half these patients received treatment within 6 months of being referred, it would save the NHS £7.7 million in direct costs, would save 10,500 bed days, and would also get more people back in work which would put £259,000 back into the economy. Currently in some parts of Wales, patients can wait up to 4 years for PR services. 

I really enjoyed seeing this multi-disciplinary, integrated approach, and it was clear that the people referred to the service were seeing the benefits. Well done to the team at Swansea Bay health board who are now delivering this across Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and also in Bridgend, in conjunction with Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board.

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