The Milton Keynes Home1st Community Pulmonary Rehabilitation Service supports patients with a wide range of respiratory conditions, helping them manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation is a clinically proven programme to help improve exercise tolerance and breathlessness. This programme will reduce the risk of patient’s becoming unwell, possibly leading to hospital admissions and urgent GP appointments.
Pulmonary rehab doesn’t cure lung disease, but it breaks the cycle of breathlessness → inactivity → weakness → more breathlessness.
Instead, it helps you build a positive cycle:
more activity → stronger muscles → less breathlessness → more independence
Our multi-disciplinary team consists of Physiotherapists, Pulmonary Rehab Practitioners, Nursing Associates and Administrators, with a specialist interest in Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
We also work closely within the multi-disciplinary team including Occupational Therapists, Social Workers, Doctors and many more healthcare professionals.
Improve exercise tolerance
- Increase walking distance (e.g., in a 6-minute walk test)
- Improve ability to perform daily activities (stairs, dressing, shopping)
Reduce breathlessness
- Teach and apply breathing techniques (e.g., pursed-lip breathing)
- Improve efficiency of ventilation during activity
Enhance muscle strength
- Strengthen upper and lower limb muscles
- Reduce muscle deconditioning associated with chronic lung disease
Improve quality of life
- Increase independence in daily living
- Reduce fatigue and improve overall wellbeing
Promote self-management
- Educate on disease management (e.g., COPD care)
- Recognize early signs of exacerbations
- Improve medication and inhaler adherence
Reduce hospital admissions
- Prevent exacerbations through better management
- Encourage early intervention when symptoms worsen
Psychological support
- Reduce anxiety and depression related to breathlessness
- Improve confidence in physical activity
Lifestyle modification
- Encourage smoking cessation (if applicable)
- Promote long-term physical activity habits
The Pulmonary Rehab course is run, twice a week for 6 weeks. Each session lasts for around two hours every Tuesday and Thursday at Willen Pavillion.
Before attending the sessions, you will be given the option of which group you would like to attend, A or B.
Where: Willen Pavilion, 28 Portland Drive, Willen, Milton Keynes MK15 9JP
When: Tuesdays and Thursdays: Group A: 10am to 12pm; Group B: 11am to 1pm
Each session consists of 60 minutes of structured exercises, supported by trained staff, to assist individuals with lung disease in improving their physical function. Patients will follow a personalised exercise programme tailored to their individual needs and abilities. This approach allows for consistent progression, enabling patients to monitor and recognise improvements in their performance across the duration of the course.
Depending on your chosen start time, you will have the opportunity to attend one of 12 education sessions either before or after your exercise class. These sessions are led by healthcare professionals and provide valuable information, as well as the chance to ask questions and develop a better understanding of how to manage your condition effectively.
The 12 education topics include:
- The benefits of exercise for individuals with a lung condition
- Anatomy: how the lungs work
- Understanding your lung condition
- Breathlessness management techniques
- Chest clearance techniques
- Medication management for respiratory conditions
- Energy conservation strategies
- Stress, anxiety, and mental health
- Relaxation techniques
- When and where to seek help
- Nutrition and healthy eating for lung health
- Planning next steps after completing the programme
You will also have the chance to enrol for more education with the MyCOPD app, or have written education information on topics such as:
- Why exercise?
- Breathing exercises and clearance techniques
- Coping with lung disease
- Exercising at home
- Inhaler and drug management
- Nutrition
- Stress management and relaxation
- Living with a long-term health condition
This service is for adults over the age of 18 who are registered with a Milton Keynes GP and who have a diagnosis of a respiratory condition.
We accept referrals from doctors and other healthcare professionals, such as consultants or respiratory nurses.
Please kindly review our referral criteria (on referral form) before sending referral to ensure patient is suitable for the course.
Download our referral form (opens word doc)
Please email to: cnw-tr.PulmonaryRehabilitation@nhs.net
After you have been referred to the pulmonary rehabilitation team, we will then contact you to:
- Have a telephone assessment with you, to discuss the options in which we can best support you.
- Discuss with you the nature of your lung condition and any other medical conditions to ascertain the suitability of pulmonary rehabilitation for you at this moment in time.
Following this conversation, if you feel you would like to join the pulmonary rehabilitation course, we will then invite you to visit our clinic for an assessment.
Your assessment will include:
- A series of brief questions about the nature and history of your respiratory condition.
- Completion of questionnaires relating to your lung health and overall quality of life.
- A walking assessment to evaluate your functional ability and level of breathlessness.
- A strength assessment to determine the most appropriate level of resistance for your exercise programme.
- Goal setting to identify your personal aims and what you would like to achieve from the programme.
Please bring details of all inhalers and medication that you are prescribed with you to your appointments.
We will assess you again at the end of the programme to measure improvements to your overall condition.
The service operates Monday to Friday, between 8am and 4pm.
If you need help in a crisis, please do the following
- Contact the CNWL service looking after you during their office hours
- If the crisis is during when your service is closed, there are alternative options provided by the NHS found on this page.
- If you are not already being looked after by CNWL or elsewhere within the NHS, see your GP during normal working hours as they can then refer you to a local service.
Find your closest GP on NHS Choices.