Specialist health condition classes

At times, we see members of our communities for whom general excercise referral is not applicable due to the nature of a specialist condition. 

In addition to this, the effects of lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic have also brought about a significant reduction in social interaction, particularly among the aging population.

With these two scenarios in mind, Buckinghamshire NHS Trust highlighted three long-term health conditions where leisure and health providers should focus on; cancer rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation and falls prevention.

Our team at Wycombe Leisure Centre jumped at the opportunity to address this situation. 

They introduced group-based exercises classes, taught by Level 4 specialists for those individuals that these situations affected.

This allowed for specialist conditions to be rehabilitated by specialist trainers in a group environment where social interaction can be improved as part of a larger agenda to improve mental, physical and social wellbeing. 

​How did the classes work?

Wycombe Leisure Centre launced their Cardiac rehab and falls prevention programme in 2021, integrated within their wider health and wellbeing programme. Cancer rehab classes were then introduced in January 2023.

These classes were a great success within the community with the sessions well attended throughout, with some brilliant feedback from the community;

"Pre-COVID I thought my fitness was good, but after suffering a heart attack along with contracting COVID, everything went downhill. I really wanted to use the cardiac rehab classes as a stop gap to be able to get my fitness up as much as possible, but it has been so much more than that. There is a large breadth of people there, and I have made some good friends. I now feel great and I am coming regularly to a variety of different activities."

The launch of the classes was just the beginning, the team are still working closely with the NHS trust to establish improved links for referral through three pathways:

• Health professional referrals through the primary care network initiative
• GP referrals through the health service provider
• Phase 3 referrals from hospital programmes