National provision of exercise after stroke services
A Scottish Government funded project has been looking at the provision of exercise services across Scotland. The report has now been published.
Stroke survivors have significantly lower levels of physical fitness than people of similar ages. This often contributes to difficulty functioning. The Scottish Government’s ‘Better Heart Disease and Stroke Care Action Plan’ states that stroke survivors should be able to access exercise and fitness training in the community based on evidence from randomised trials about the benefits of exercise and fitness training after stroke. We have incorporated the appropriate exercise after stroke referral criteria within standardised stroke referral documentation in collaboration with identified partners from the health and the fitness industry.
In 2011, the Stroke MCN was successful in securing an Edinburgh & Lothians Health Foundation (ELHF) grant to provide specialist stroke training to 14 fitness instructors from five leisure industry providers in Lothian: Edinburgh Leisure, Xcite West Lothian, East Lothian Council and Midlothian Council. The stroke MCN has been working in partnership with Edinburgh Leisure providing exercise after stroke services since 2008. Fourteen fitness instructors from across Lothian took the Later Life Training (LLT) Stroke Course validated by Queen Margaret University at REPS (Register of Exercise Professionals) Level 4. The course included 50 hours contact teaching time, and 150 hours self directed learning, and included formal examination.
Four one day ‘Access to Stroke’ courses for leisure centre staff, delivered by the Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland Stroke Training Co-ordinator supported by local NHS stroke clinicians, were delivered in August/September 2013, one in each of the four local authority areas in Lothian.
We currently have:
- Fourteen REPS Level 4 Stroke Specialist Trained Fitness Instructors pending final course submissions from Edinburgh, East and Midlothian, West Lothian and The Thistle Foundation.
- Clear exercise after stroke referral pathways.
- Standardised, evidence-based referral forms in use pan Lothian particular to the four local authority areas.
- Electronic details of exercise after stroke services in a directory housed within the newly redesigned Stroke MCN website.
- Stroke core-competent leisure industry staff to complement and support the stroke specialist fitness instructors in delivering exercise after stroke services.
- National profile of NHS Lothian increased through audit of the implementation of the Better Heart Disease and Stroke Care Action Plan, the Scottish Government strategic driver for stroke services.
The Lothian Stroke MCN aims to support equitable access into exercise after stroke wherever someone lives in Lothian. Stroke patients can be referred to any one of five leisure industry providers.
Referral information to stroke-specific services in Edinburgh, East, Mid and West Lothian can be found on the Exercise after stroke documentation page
Scotland wide – Exercise After Stroke website
