Living life to the full with EPP Cymru

Living with an illness everyday can be difficult but the Education Programme for Patients team is on hand to help patients with long term conditions.

The Education Programme for Patients (EPP Cymru) helps both patients and their carers to manage their condition and gain support from others. The courses are about making you an expert in living your life to the full with your condition and are led by tutors who themselves have experience of making life changes as a result of a long-term health condition.

Courses are run in local communities, close to home and free of charge and offer opportunities for participants to gain Agored Cymru credits.

Robert Williams, aged 61 from Carway, recently completed a six week Chronic Disease Self Management Programme in Llanelli. A life-long Swansea City supporter, Mr Williams worked as a carer in a Gower residential home until he developed emphysema, a long-term disease of the lungs that causes shortness of breath, brought on by heavy smoking.

As his condition worsened, he had to leave the job he loved as it became increasingly harder to climb stairs and carry out day to day activities.

Mr Williams has since given up smoking and has lived with emphysema for 12 years. He says attending the Chronic Disease Self Management Programme course has helped him to regain his confidence. This is his experience:

“I was waiting in my GP surgery when I saw EPP Cymru’s leaflet. I asked my doctor if he thought I should go on it. He said it would be good for me and he was certainly right about that.

“In January I started going every Thursday evening for two and a half hours to Llanelli’s Fire Station.

“Each week we were taught how to manage the effects of our condition such as eating healthily, improving communication with loved ones and our doctors and nurses and coping with the stress and the frustration you can have.

“The best lesson the course taught me were the relaxation techniques. This has helped me to control my breathing which is very beneficial with my condition.

“Every week we were given tasks to help build our confidence. By the end of the course I could feel the difference. The whole experience was humorous, educational and extremely comfortable.

“There were 15 other students on my course who were excellent company and Sue and Caroline our tutors were helpful and welcoming. I am still in touch with some of my fellow students by telephone and we hope to be able to meet up again in person very soon.

“The course has also inspired me to become a tutor and I am waiting to hear how I can help others living with long term conditions through EPP Cymru just like they have helped me. I’m sure my wife and daughters look forward to me being out and about again and having the TV to themselves!”

Claire Hurlin, Chronic Conditions Management Lead, for Hywel Dda said: “The courses are about making people an expert in living their life to the full with a condition, not about making people an expert in the specific condition they have.

“To actively self manage or self care, individuals need confidence and skills to manage their health on a daily basis. They also need to be able to engage the effective support from the health professionals they work with who can act as a resource to them.”

Caroline Davies, Trainer and Senior Co-ordinator for EPP Cymru within Hywel Dda , said “What makes EPP Cymru special is the sharing of skills and experience with people who have to deal with the same things as each other.

“People who have been on a course have reported an increase in self confidence and control of their condition; their belief that they can do something to change their health behaviour and quality of consultations with Doctors.

“They have also reported a decrease in pain and fatigue; anxiety, depression and breathlessness; visits to GPs; A & E admissions and hospital admissions.”

A third of adults in Wales currently have at least one long term condition – such as asthma, diabetes, dementia and arthritis. Older people are more likely to have a chronic illness and an increasingly elderly population means that the number of people needing treatment for such conditions will also rise.

The older population across Hywel Dda Health Board is likely to rise from 35,000 (10%) in 2006 to 70,000 (16%) in 2031 and evidence shows that of the eleven leading causes of hospital bed use in the UK, eight are due to long term conditions. Better management of long-term conditions in the community will have beneficial outcomes for individuals and carers and reduce hospital admissions. This is a significant issue in particular for older people, who risk losing their independence following admission to hospital.

Hywel Dda Health Board has pledged that by 2016, wherever possible, that no one with a known Long Term Condition is admitted unexpectedly to hospital with that condition. EPP Cymru is helping our patients to take control of their condition and live a fuller life.

For more information about EPP Cymru and courses in your area, visit www.eppwales.org or to contact EPP Cymru’s Trainers and Co-ordinators within Hywel Dda Health Board (Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire) telephone 01554 779507.