The Cardiac Rehab service at St Cross has expanded its offering with the addition of the latest CardioPulminary Exercise Test (CPET) equipment donated by the Friends of St Cross.
Jo Holdsworth, the manager of the Rehab Programme explained “There has been a Cardiac Rehab service at the Hospital of St Cross since 1994. With the support of the Friends, the service has gone from strength to strength and last year was nominated for recognition by the British Heart Foundation. Currently the service is one of only 20 programmes in England and Wales who have been certified by the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation as a programme that achieves the minimum standards set for a cardiac rehabilitation programme.
The cardiac rehabilitation service at Rugby is currently a research study site for a multi-national trial for HIIT (High Intensity Interval training). Part of the trial criteria is that patients undergo a CPET. Due to the fact that the old equipment was not to the gold CPET standard these patients had to travel to Coventry for two assessment appointments. In addition, Rugby residents who require a CPET for pre-transplant assessment or other respiratory assessments currently have to travel to University Hospital but now this equipment can be accessed within the cardiac rehabilitation department at St Cross which already helps 300 patients every year. Approximately half of all of the cardiac rehab patients treated by the Trust attend St Cross.”
Willy Goldschmidt, Chairman of the Friends of St Cross said “The Friends have been proud to support the Cardiac Rehab team at the Hospital of St Cross for many years and have provided the majority of the equipment used in the rehab gym. So when the Board heard that the equipment used to assess patients at the start of their rehabilitation was 15 years old and was becoming a problem to maintain there was no hesitation in approving a request to spend £40,000 on the latest CardioPulminary Exercise Testing (CPET) equipment.”
Photo: By Navin Mistry – L-R Willy Goldschmidt, Chairman of the Friends of St Cross, Jo Holdsworth, Cardiac Rehab Programme Manager, Mary Morton, Cardiac Rehab Nurse.