NICE clinical guideline recommendations
These are the recommendations relevant to pulmonary rehabilitation (section 1.2.10) in NICE clinical guideline CG12 ‘Management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults in primary and secondary care´.
Pulmonary rehabilitation
Pulmonary rehabilitation is defined as a multidisciplinary programme of care for patients with chronic respiratory impairment that is individually tailored and designed to optimise the individual's physical and social performance and autonomy.
- Pulmonary rehabilitation should be made available to all appropriate patients with COPD.
- Pulmonary rehabilitation should be offered to all patients who consider themselves functionally disabled by COPD (usually MRC grade 3 and above). Pulmonary rehabilitation is not suitable for patients who are unable to walk, have unstable angina or who have had a recent myocardial infarction.
- For pulmonary rehabilitation programmes to be effective, and to improve concordance, they should be held at times that suit patients, and in buildings that are easy for patients to get to and have good access for people with disabilities. Places should be available within a reasonable time of referral.
- Pulmonary rehabilitation programmes should include multicomponent, multidisciplinary interventions, which are tailored to the individual patient's needs. The rehabilitation process should incorporate a programme of physical training, disease education, nutritional, psychological and behavioural intervention.
- Patients should be made aware of the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation and the commitment required to gain these.
This page was last updated: 07 December 2007
- Commissioning a pulmonary rehabilitation service for patients with COPD
- Specifying a pulmonary rehabilitation service for patients with COPD
- Determining local service levels for a pulmonary rehabilitation service for patients with COPD
- Assumptions used in estimating a population benchmark
- The commissioning and benchmarking tool
- Ensuring corporate and quality assurance
