Cardiac rehabilitation

Cardiac Rehabilitation is a service provided by clinical nurse specialists and a specialist physiotherapist following a diagnosis of a heart condition (acute or elective).
Patients and their families are provided with up to date information and support to help with their recovery from both a physical and psychological perspective, with the overall aim of getting people back to 'normal' and reducing further heart complications in the future.

Covid-19 response

From 13 March 2020 all exercise classes have been suspended and cardiac rehabilitation follow up clinics changed to phone call follow ups or virtual consultations due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

Our non urgent helpline number 01904 725821 is still open Monday to Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm (excluding bank holidays) – however due to pressures and staff redeployment relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, the service is running at minimal capacity.

If you have ANY questions regarding your heart condition, as long as they are not urgent you can ring for advice.  We will still endeavour to call you back as soon as possible but please be aware there may be longer delays than normal.

If you have chest pain:

1. Sit down and rest
2. Take GTN spray - 1 to 2 puffs under the tongue (if prescribed)
3. Wait five minutes
4. If the pain continues or worsens after five minutes, repeat steps 2 and 3
5. If your chest pain remains after 10 minutes - call 999

Available support and videos

You should have been provided with the 'you and your heart booklet', a GTN card, and an anti-platelet advice card.  If you have not received these, please request them from the cardiac rehab team.

To support this information, we have also produced a series of videos that we hope you will find useful:

• Introduction to cardiac rehabilitation - Videos introducing the Cardiac Rehab programme, and how you can benefit from it

• Your condition and associated risk factors - Videos explaining how heart disease works, and how different modifiable risk factors can impact on your heart health

• Medication - Videos providing an overview of common heart medications, along with commonly asked questions

• Healthy eating - Videos discussing the different food groups, and the impact of fats, alcohol and salt on your heart health