Respiratory Services

Our team of respiratory nurses and physiotherapists can help you to get back on track with managing your COPD.

What we will do:

• Contact you within 24 hours of referral and see you for up to 4 weeks.
• Visit you in your own home or via telephone calls (depending on what you need).
• Monitor and spot any early worsening of your lung health that needs further treatment.
• Help you understand your lung condition and treatments.
• Give support and training on how to manage your condition, including medicines.
• Check how you use your inhaler to make sure it is effective and the right one for you.
• Keep in touch with your GP at the start and end of your time with the team.
• Keep in touch with you and talk through any big changes with your lung health during your time with the team.

How do I arrange to be seen:

Referral is made by GPs and emergency staff only. If you feel you might need this help, please contact your GP surgery.

HCPs: Please contact the service for any queries or to make a referral.

What to do while I wait:

• Understanding chest infections and how they might affect your lung condition | Asthma + Lung UK
• What is a COPD flare-up (exacerbation)? | Asthma + Lung UK
• Asthma attacks | Asthma + Lung UK
• How to use your inhaler | Asthma + Lung UK
• Chest clearance leaflet
• Self-management information and plans
  • Your COPD self-management plan | Asthma + Lung UK
  • Self-management for bronchiectasis | Asthma + Lung UK
  • Pulmonary fibrosis self-management plan | Asthma + Lung UK

What is oxygen treatment:    

Most people with a lung condition do not need extra oxygen. But if you’re living with a lung condition and your blood oxygen levels are very low, you may be suitable to have home oxygen treatment. This involves breathing in air that has a higher level of oxygen through a mask, or a tube connected to a device in your home or that you can carry around, to increase the amount of oxygen in your blood.

Some people will be prescribed oxygen to use for at least 15 hours a day, including overnight, to protect heart health. Others may need oxygen treatment to help them be more active and move with less breathlessness.

Oxygen is a controlled drug, meaning that we need to make sure it is only given to those people who need it for health reasons and that they are taught how to confidently use it. We must complete assessments to make sure it helps and doesn’t cause harm to them or anyone around them.

You may have needed some oxygen treatment when you were in hospital, but this does not mean you will always need to continue with it.

If you have problems with breathlessness but do not have low blood oxygen levels, it is not the right treatment for you.

Who can be assessed by our service for oxygen treatment:

Any adult living within West Hampshire with:

• Oxygen levels that are 92% or lower when you are sat still, breathing air.

If you have certain heart conditions, then we will assess you if your oxygen levels are 94% or lower.

• Oxygen levels that fall to below 90% when you move and your activity is limited by feeling very breathless.
• Cluster headaches and have been under the care of a neurologist.

What we will do:

• Assess and check any oxygen treatment you have remains safe and correct for you.
• See you when you are at least 8 weeks free of an infection. However, we can still see you if you have very regular chest infections, so please talk to us if this is the case.
• Make sure you have the right amount of oxygen equipment.
• Teach you how to use the oxygen treatments to safely get the most from it.
• Complete a home risk assessment.
• Review your care after 3 months following a change in your oxygen prescription.
• Review your care as a minimum once a year once you are settled with your prescription and equipment.
• Offer home visits if you are housebound.
• Keep in touch with your GP following each assessment to let them know anytime things have changed, so they are kept updated with your oxygen treatment.
• Continue to review and monitor your condition for as long as you have oxygen treatment.

How to get referred:

Referral from any healthcare professional, such as your GP, practice nurse or medical team.

HCPs: Please contact the service for more specific information.

How long do I need to wait?

Average waiting time from the team getting your referral to being seen is: 4-6 weeks.

Please do contact the team if you haven’t heard from us and are waiting longer than this or are worried. Should your oxygen levels be lower than 85% when you are still, please do see your GP or call 111/999 if you are feeling suddenly very breathless/unwell.

What should I expect to happen after being referred:

• You will receive an appointment with our team to complete an assessment at one of our clinics.
• At your appointment, the team will complete some basic observations and talk through what your symptoms are. If your oxygen levels are 92% or lower (or 94% or lower if you have certain heart conditions), they will take a small amount of blood from your earlobe to see what your oxygen level in your blood is. This really doesn’t hurt!
• They may ask you to complete a walking test if you get breathless when being active.
• They will talk through the results with you and explain what oxygen treatments can be offered or why oxygen treatment may not be needed.
• The team will make recommendations for ways to manage your lung condition as well as how to be as active as possible. This may or may not include having another assessment in a few weeks before prescribing oxygen treatment.

What to do while I wait:

• Home oxygen therapy | Asthma + Lung UK
• Breathlessness | Asthma + Lung UK

What Pulmonary Rehabilitation is:

We run a 6-week physical exercise and education course, called Pulmonary Rehabilitation. These are nationally run courses for people with a long-term lung condition, but is then tailored for you and run locally. Research has proven that Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) can help people have a better quality of life by managing breathlessness, feeling more in control of experiences, and having confidence in being more active in day-to-day activities.  

Exercise is a prescribed part of the management for people with long-term lung conditions. It is as important as the medicines prescribed for these conditions. We strongly encourage our patients to carry on exercising after the course. We take time to make sure you are either referred to level 4 lung exercise classes at local leisure centres, guided to other local activity and support groups, or shown how to use our exercise sheets to do exercises at home. 

The exercise portion of our classes consists of a warm-up, muscle strengthening exercises, a stamina section and a cool-down. The aim is to make it easier to do day to day things. It can also help you to deal with your breathlessness with more confidence. 

The education portion of our classes cover a range of topics, with the aim to improve your understanding of your lung condition and have more control over the impact of it. These sessions also give you time to ask staff questions and hear tips and experiences from other patients. We provide you with information sheets on all the topics with reminders of the key information.  

We understand that people can feel anxious or nervous about attending a group. However, people often relax and make friends in the group after the first few sessions. People who attend our PR course tell us that they find it very helpful to have the support and encouragement of other people who have similar problems and understand how it feels to have breathlessness. 

What you can expect at the course:

• The PR team is made up of trained healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists, nurses and exercise professionals.
• You will be in a group of people with similar problems and conditions.
• The course is run twice a week for 6 weeks, with each session lasting 90 minutes. 
• The sessions are held in community venues across Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
• You will learn how to exercise safely and at the right level for you, using weights.
• You will build confidence and meet others in a similar situation.
• Information on looking after your body and lungs, and advice on managing your condition and symptoms, including feeling short of breath.

How the course can help you:

• Improve your muscle strength so you can use the oxygen you breathe more efficiently.
• Help you cope better with feeling out of breath.
• Improve your physical strength and fitness, so you feel less tired and breathless doing day-to-day activities. 
• Feel more confident to do things.
• Help you feel better mentally.
• Reduce the risk of ending up in hospital.

Who can join the course:

• Adults with a diagnosed long-term lung condition who are limited by feeling breathless. This includes those who have oxygen therapy.
• It is especially helpful if you have had a recent flare up or hospital admission related to your COPD.

Who can’t join the course:

• If you have unexplained chest pain or uncontrolled angina.
• Other health conditions that are made worse by exercise.
• Uncontrolled high blood pressure.

• If your breathlessness is caused by something other than your lung condition.

• If you have had 2 or more falls in the last 12 months – you may benefit more from attending a balance class (Falls Prevention Service :: Hampshire and Isle of Wight NHS Foundation Trust).

• If you struggle with your walking or to exercise due to other significant joint pains or problems. 

How to get on a course?

Referral from your GP, practice nurse or respiratory team. 

HCPS: Please refer to HIOW ICB website for more specific information, selecting ‘Pulmonary Rehabilitation’ drop down option from the list: Respiratory Information Hub for healthcare professionals :: NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight

How long do I need to wait?

Average waiting time from the team getting your referral to being seen is: 4-6 weeks.

Please do contact the team if you haven’t heard from us and are waiting longer than this or are worried.

What should I expect to happen after being referred:

• When we get a referral for you, you will receive a phone call from our team within 2-4 weeks* to go through a few basic screening questions and answer any queries from you. If everything is ok, they will also book your in person pre-assessment appointment at your choice of community venue or local hospital. *Please do contact the team if you haven’t heard from us and are waiting longer than this or are worried. Find the contact details for your local team above. 

• At your pre-assessment appointment, you will complete exercise tests including walking and strength tests so the team can safely prescribe the level of exercise for you on the course.  They will go through some questionnaires to give a ‘before and after’ comparison of doing the course. We get to know you and how your lung condition affects you and assess how you manage your medicines. We also discuss other limitations and how to make the exercises work for you, for example if you have back pain. The aim is to book you to start a PR course within 6-8 weeks of your assessment if there are no concerns raised during your assessment. During busier times, there may be a longer wait but the team will let you know at your appointment. 

• After the course, you will have a final assessment to repeat the walk test, muscle strength test and questionnaires. We use these to look at how you did on the course and make recommendations for how to continue to be active and manage your lung condition.  

What to do while I wait:

• A3 WAU - ways to move more at home - activity poster.pdf
• Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) | Asthma + Lung UK
• Keep Active programme | Asthma + Lung UK
• Groups + support | Asthma + Lung UK
• Managing A Health Condition By Staying Active