PHSG Magazine Summer 2009

here to helpAffiliated to the British Heart Foundation and

Arrhythmia Alliance - The Heart Rhythm Charity

2Free to

members

MagazineSummer 2009

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POOLE HEART SUPPORT GROUPHead Office: Poole Community Health Centre

Shaftesbury Road, Poole BH15 2NT

Telephone: 01202 683363 ext. 133 (9am-4pm answerphone)

Telephone manned Mondays and Thursdays: 1.30-3.30pm

Web site address: www.poolehsg.org.uk

PRESIDENT Dr. A.A MCLEOD

V. PRESIDENTS: ROBERT PAYNE, MAGGIE RICHARDSON,

JIM WAINE (01202 871532) GEOFFREY WALKER, DIANE BRUCE.

PHSG COMMITTEEKEITH MATTHEWS Chairman keith@poolehsg.org.uk. 01202 855001

DAVID ANDERSON Secretary david@poolehsg.org.uk.01202 697376

RITA HOLMES Treasurer rita@poolehsg.org.uk. 01202 743960

ROBIN PRINGLE Exercise Coordinator robin@poolehsg.org.uk. 01202 884250

ALAN BRISTOW Magazine Editor/Liaison alan@poolehsg.org.uk. 01202 694886

GARY LEE Social Secretary gary@poolehsg.org.uk. 01202 722814

JAN MESHER Office jan@poolehsg.org.uk. 01202 250108

PAM BAILEY BHF Rep. 01202 574944

DON BAILEY Member 01202 574944

GEORGE WILKINSON Member 01202 740374

GERRY WRIGHT Purbeck Member gerry@poolehsg.org.uk. 01929 421864

VACANCY Want your name here? Please see a committee member!

If you know a member who is ill, please tell us by contacting Mavis Terry,

Welfare Support, on 01202 874760 or mavis@poolehsg.org.uk

OTHER CONTACTSMAX SMITH Website max@poolehsg.org.uk 01202 676601

DEREK POPE Computer Club/Data base derek@poolehsg.org.uk 01202 889070

DAVID LLOYD Publicity davidp@poolehsg.org.uk 01202 697179

GEORGE OLEARY PHSG shirts george@poolehsg.org.uk 01202 743978

CYRIL MARTIN Walking Group 01202 733956

Please send magazine articles to Alan Bristow, 60 West Way, Broadstone BH18 9LS

editor@poolehsg.org.uk Tel. 01202 694886

Magazines are published 1st March, 1st June, 1st September and 1st December.

Last date for articles to Editor is 10th day of month before publication.

Dates for your Diary - Meetings and Social Events - Please see page 19

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Chairmans Letter

Hello, I am your new Chairman and I am pleased to have been elected to

that post at the recent AGM, with the full support of our founder, Jim Waine,

and all the committee.

I still tend to think of myself as one of the new members, but I realise Ive

been active in PHSG for nearly five years ! Ive had a few stays in hospital

back then and have direct experience of both Bournemouth and the Poole

CCU and the rehab programmes of both hospitals. I exercise at Canford,

organise the Cycling Group and drop into the Computer Club from time to

time. Youll generally find me at the monthly Thursday talks too. Ill try to

drop into some other groups if time permits. That may have to wait until I

retire in September !

Im looking forward to helping PHSG continue its good work. See you around !

Keith Matthews

Cardiology News from Poole

Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

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Picture: www.bellawest.co.uk

Lightenpic

Dear Friends,

Its good to have the opportunity to update you all again

and against the back drop of spring which is always a

good time of year and holds so much promise of

hopefully a lovely summer ahead.

We are about to put on an additional 3rd pacemaker

insertion list per week to meet the demands of the

service since we commenced last year which is

excellent and will of course reduce waiting lists. Also

we have had no pacemaker infections due to insertion

over the period, and we use a mild sedation during the procedure to help the patient

relax which is innovatory and has proved a great success.

We have also as part of the cardiac rehabilitation service worked in partnership with

the British Red Cross through one of our quality service group members, Dr Isobel

Smart, who is President of Dorset Red Cross, to run first aid courses for family and

friends of cardiac patients. The course has proved a great success and members of

the Heart Support Group came to the launch course and more are planned.

With regard to our bid to become a Practice Development Unit for Cardiology and

Medicine with the University of Bournemouth, we had our final health check before

going for accreditation on the 29th April. The university representative came to see

our service and projects from the staff and to look to see if we were ready. She was

extremely impressed and had nothing but positive comments. Alan Bristow also

met her over coffee, to talk about the Quality Service Group and she was delighted

with our public/patient involvement - Alan did a great job of selling us! Hopefully we

can now go for full accreditation at the end of June, which will recognise us as a

centre of excellence. I will keep you all informed of progress, it will be a real feather

in our cap and key to this has been the strong links we have with all of you through

our Quality Service Group which I know will now continue to go from strength to

strength.

It has been really good to have members of the Quality Service Group accompany

me on Matrons rounds. It has set a clear sign to patients and relatives that we do

listen to them and take action. I have really enjoyed showing every one around and

the staff also have appreciated the involvement too. I am immensely proud of the

service and staff and therefore its good to let people see what we do. One of the key

comments made by the members of the group as they visited the wards was how

clean they were. I have passed this on to the cleaning managers and also the staff

themselves, as all care is a team effort.

I look forward to speaking to you all again soon and giving you a lecture in November,

until then have a healthy and happy summer.

Matron Geoffrey Walker, Cardiology and MedicineMatron Geoffrey Walker, Cardiology and MedicineMatron Geoffrey Walker, Cardiology and MedicineMatron Geoffrey Walker, Cardiology and MedicineMatron Geoffrey Walker, Cardiology and Medicine

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Heart News with Dr. Christopher Boos

Dear All

I am delighted to say that we started our

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) Service on

the 12 March 2009. This is a unique, once weekly,

service that is unavailable in most hospitals across the

UK. So what is CPET ? Well, it is now the gold standard

objective tool for the evaluation of cardiopulmonary

function and fitness. It is an entirely non-invasive and

objective method of assessing integrative exercise

responses involving the pulmonary, cardiovascular and skeletal muscle

systems, which are not adequately reflected through the measurement of

individual organ system function, such as

with an echocardiogram and cardiac MRI

or with routine treadmill testing. At Poole we

have acquired a state of the art system.

What does this test involve you might well

ask? After taking a brief history, patients will

undergo measurement of their height,

weight and body mass index. This followed

by baseline spirometry to assess for any

resting breathing limitation. Patients are

then exercised on either the bicycle or

treadmill. During exercise patients will have

either a mouthpiece or face mask fitted

(which directly measures gas exchange)

connected to the metabolic cart and gas analyser (see image). An enormous

number of measurements are assessed and include continuous 12 lead

ECG analysis, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing reserve, oxygen

consumption and saturations etc. A typical protocol will consist of at least 1

minute of resting assessment (ECG and simultaneous gas analysis) followed

by 1-3 minutes of electronically unbraked bicycling or gentle treadmill

assessment followed then by full exercise (typically 5-11 minutes) specifically

tailored for the patients capabilities. The entire test from arrival to full

completion takes 30-40 minutes with an immediately available report. The

uses for CPET are numerous and include, objective pre-operative risk and

disability assessment, investigation of breathlessness, diagnosis of coronary

artery disease and heart failure risk stratification to name just a few. I look

forward to leading the expansion of this really exciting and new service.

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Exercise News

SPOTLIGHT ON..................Images

I have been asked to write a bit about myself and the fitness groups I teach

at Images Gym. I took over the circuit classes from Lesley over six years

ago, although it really doesnt feel that long. Over that time I have seen

many faces come and go but what has never changed is the happy and

supportive attitude of the exercisers!

I teach about 25 fitness classes a week, two of which are for the Heart

Support Group, and they are definitely two of my favourites.

When I sat and considered what I do in my spare time, I realised that fitness

seems to account for nearly all of it. I run my own Pilates busines