WALES leads the way in providing vital exercise and education programmes for chronic lung disease patients, according to a study of people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The British Lung Foundation in Wales has welcomed the findings, while stressing there is more to do to help patients.

A study presented at the British Thoracic Society (BTS) winter meeting revealed that patients in Wales with COPD in Wales were twice as likely to be referred to pulmonary rehabilitation, than those in England or Scotland.

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Pulmonary rehabilitation is a programme of exercise and education for people with a long-term lung condition. It comprises a physical exercise programme tailored to individuals, and information on looking after the body and lungs, with advice on symptom management, including shortness of breath.

Evidence suggests pulmonary rehabilitation reduces COPD flare-ups by 36 per cent and, if every eligible person were referred, flare ups would fall by a third

In turn, this would reduce COPD hospital admissions by 13 per cent, halve the length of time spent in hospital, reduce social care costs, and free up GP appointments.

Research also showed that people in Wales are at least twice as likely to have key tests to confirm airways obstruction, compared to England, Scotland, or Northern Ireland, though improvement is still required.

"All countries need to improve testing to confirm airways obstruction, as even the best performing nation, Wales, still only completed it in less than 15 per cent of patients," said Philip Stone, study lead and researcher from Imperial College London.

"However, Wales seems to be excelling at referring suitable patients to pulmonary rehabilitation. This may be due to it having a national respiratory strategy and audit in place for some time now.”

Joseph Carter, head of the British Lung Foundation in Wales said the findings "highlight the incredible work of the Respiratory Health Implementation Group and it’s partners who have come together with patients to develop a world class service.”

“There are still many improvements to make but this is a huge milestone and I am so grateful to all of the teams, organisations and passionate individuals we have been able to work with to get to where we are today.

"We know pulmonary rehab changes lives, we know it saves lives. We now have to focus on giving every eligible patient in Wales local, reliable access to it and put significant investment into the development of the service.”