Course Details

Please contact the cardiac rehabilitation team for more information about the programme as the below has been adapted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exercise

Both programmes do an hours exercise and the sessions are tailored to each person’s ability.
The session usually consists of a 15 minute warm up, 2-3 minutes on a ten station circuit of cardiovascular and resistance exercises ( bike, treadmill, hand weights etc.) and a 10 minute cool down.
Exercise intensity is recorded at different intervals throughout.
All exercise sessions are supervised by the Cardiac Exercise Specialist, +/- physiotherapist and CRNS.

Relaxation
The exercise session is followed by a period of relaxation during which the patients lie on exercise mats and listen to relaxing music. The CRNS talks them through breathing exercises and techniques designed help relaxation of body and mind.

Information and Support sessions
Information sessions are designed to increase patients’ knowledge and clarify any misconceptions about heart disease and its management. They are also intended to increase patient’s motivation for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and to facilitate the process of change, which is inherent in the programme. The support sessions enable the users to develop strategies to help them cope with their illness and recovery.

There are one or two of these sessions each week throughout the programme. The sessions include the following:
  • Benefits of exercise
  • Drugs and their effect on the heart
  • What to do in an emergency (families are invited to this session)
  • Healthy Eating (families are invited to this session)
  • Smoking Cessation*
  • Making changes to improve your health
  • The impact of having heart problems / surgery
  • Managing negative emotions
  • Planning for the future and maintaining changes you have already made
*The Smoking Cessation Advisor delivers this session when there are smokers within the Cardiac Rehabilitation programme.
Last updated31 May 2022
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