“I used to have to go to the GP every couple of weeks. I used to get lots of chest infections, but I haven’t had one since I did the course,” according to Rose Brennan, Dublin North Central, speaking about her experience of attending pulmonary rehabilitation – a specialised programme of exercise and education. Rose added that she was “very thankful for doing the course because it’s made a huge difference to my everyday life.”

HSE integrated respiratory services support thousands of people with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and asthma to be treated in a community setting, with positive outcomes. Specialist respiratory teams in Integrated Care Hubs focus on keeping people healthy and out of hospital, delivering care closer to home.

The teams provide support for people to manage their COPD and asthma through prevention, early detection, slowing of disease progression, and services such as pulmonary rehabilitation programmes. There are 26 teams across the country, with each team based in an Integrated Care Hub affiliated to an acute hospital.

Outlining her experience, Rose explained how, before attending the course, she was “finding it very difficult to do my normal activities like cleaning the house, going for walks. I attend a support group every Tuesday. As well as doing exercises, I get lots of information on how your lungs work. So now I avoid the triggers because I’ve learned how to do that. Having the information takes away the fear. So now if I have a breathless attack I know that I can control it with the breathing techniques. And of course that then prevents me from having to go to ED.”

Aiming to improve patient health and support patients to self-manage their conditions, the courses provide a range of benefits including access to integrated, holistic and personalised care to improve patient outcomes; timely specialist access; significant reduction in avoidable attendance and admission to hospital, and the promotion of patient self-care.

Associate Professor Stanley Miller, HSE National Clinical Lead, Respiratory, explained that “Integrated Respiratory Teams deliver care closer to where people live, in line with the Sláintecare vision of right care, right place, at the right time.”

Since January 2023, there have been 43,000 patient contacts with integrated respiratory services, shifting care away from hospitals. There have been 15,000 pulmonary rehabilitation patient contacts, helping to empower patients to manage their own conditions. To date, there have also been 5,000 patient contacts to COPD Outreach, along with 208,000 reviews through the HSE GP Chronic Disease Management programme.

Watch Rose outline her story on YouTube