Revolutionising telehealth for adults with Cystic Fibrosis

Physiotherapy and exercise is an integral part of the management of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) though adults with CF normally have limited access to home based specialist physiotherapy and are unable to participate in community based group exercise due to cross-infection risks.

Tamara Hatton, a SCGH Physiotherapist saw this problem as an opportunity to innovate and applied to the NMHS Innovative Future (IF) Program seeking to establish a telehealth home-based exercise service providing supervised individual and group exercise sessions.

The goal of the project was to increased access to specialist physiotherapy and group based exercise to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare utilisation, including hospital admission.

Tamara has successfully coordinated a 10 week pilot of individual and group sessions including a variety of exercise styles such as interval training, strengthening, yoga and pilates style work outs.

The exercise sessions allow participants to interact and socialise whilst exercising, enhancing both physical and mental wellbeing. So far the program has been a great success with plenty of positive feedback from the CF participants; there has even been some pets participating!

Tamara spoke of her experience with the IF Program: "I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity from the IF team to develop this project. Despite some challenges and setbacks along the way we have shown positive outcomes and developed a sustainable service. The project has been a demonstration of yet another way innovation is shaping our future."