North and West Hampshire Community Respiratory Service is a Nurse and Allied Healthcare Professional led service. Our team look after people living at home with long term respiratory conditions in the areas of Basingstoke, Andover, Winchester, Eastleigh, Lymington, New Forest, Romsey and Totton.
We will work alongside you and your loved ones, your GP services, local hospital teams as well as other community teams to support you in managing your respiratory condition.
To see if any of the services our team provide would help you or your loved one, please see if one of the following sentences describes you/them:
Contact information
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:
What Pulmonary Rehabilitation is:
This is a physical exercise and education programme, designed for people with lung conditions and tailored for you. 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.
The PR team is made up of trained healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists, nurses and exercise professionals.
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 Pulmonary Rehabilitation 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:
- You will be in a group of up to 16 people.
- The course is run twice a week for 6 weeks, with each session lasting 90 minutes.
- It is held in community venues across West Hampshire.
- 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 (COPD, Bronchiectasis, Interstitial Lung Disease and Chronic Asthma) 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.
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:
- You will receive a phone call from our team within 2-4 weeks to check you wanted to be referred and go through a few basic screening questions.
- They will also book the next step with you – a face-to-face pre-assessment appointment at a community venue or local hospital.
- At your pre-assessment appointment, the team will complete a walking test and strength test to 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.
- You will be signed up to start a PR course within 6-8 weeks of your assessment as we may be mid-way through a course.
- After the course, you will have a final assessment to repeat the walk test, muscle strength test and questionnaires. These will show you how well you did on the course and help the team make recommendations for continuing to be active.
What to do while I wait:
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:
Addressing your concerns and complaints
It is important to hear feedback (both positive and negative), and concerns from patients, carers and families. Feedback helps us know where things have gone well, respond to any problems, and to keep improving our service. You can provide feedback or find out more here.