GP Referral Scheme (GP Referal Scheme)

Member Name: fluffypup

Product:	GP Referal Scheme
Date:	24/10/00 (1744 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Improved levels of fitness for long and short-term illnesses or disabilities to improve your conditions and get you back into work quicker. Reduced payments or fee use of the your local Sports Centre

Disadvantages: Ensure that your instructor has a full working knowledge of your illness or disability.

The GP Referral Scheme has been set up for people suffering from long or short-term illness or disability. The aim of the scheme is to help people who are currently inactive by introducing them to gentle forms exercise in an attempt to ease or recover from their illnesses, condition or disability. The people, who would benefit from this scheme are, for example, people who are recovering from heart attacks, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), hip replacements and broken legs etc. In my case, it was CFS.

To get onto the scheme your GP, or doctor, will fill out a form that will refer you to the local sports or fitness centre. A fully qualified and trained instructor will then carry out a full fitness assessment of your condition. She/he will then take account of your current fitness, injury or disability and suggest and put into action a fitness regime/plan to tailored to your needs. This plan is usually structured over a number of weeks, depending on who carries out the programme. Some sport centres offer you free use of their facilities, whilst others offer you a reduced rate because of your referral.

I have now been on two structured fitness programmes in two different counties. On my first programme, my instructor didn’t have a history of dealing with people with chronic fatigue, so my fitness programme was too demanding and actually made my condition worse. I was advised to do a combination of walking and cycling during a 12-week programme. I opted not to use the Sports Centre because I had to pay to exercise. I only lasted a few weeks on this programme because the activities lasted around the hour mark and my body couldn’t cope and recover. Fortunately, I moved counties and got onto another GP Referral scheme. The fitness instructor was excellent and had a good knowledge and dealing with people with ME/CFS. After carrying out a second fitness assessment and the usual health checks (heart rate, blood pressure, weight etc), I was given a s
impler exercise programme that consisted of 10-minute periods of walking (treadmill) and cycling (exercise bike) once or twice a week, depending on my levels of fatigue. We, fiancée was referred along with me, had free use of the fitness centre and the swimming pool because we wouldn’t be able to use either area because of our condition for more than ½ hour at a time. In some cases, I could last 5 minutes. They also suggested trying out aquatherapy (gentle water aerobics) that costs £2.00 a session once a week. All in all, this second scheme helped us tremendously, so much so I should hopefully be going back to work soon. The staff at the gym have been really good, helpful and have motivating us. It has been really worthwhile having not to pay. If we did have to pay we wouldn’t have use the gym thus reducing the success of getting better and fitter. Aquatherapy has really good exercise wise, enjoyable and highly recommended. Doing exercises in water is a lot gentler and easier. If you have CFS or ME then it is highly recommended.

The GP Referral scheme is really good at improving your levels of fitness for those people suffering from either long or short-term illness or disability. Not only does it improve your levels of fitness, it is also can be fun and enjoyable, free or reduced payment of your local sport centre. Problems can arise if your fitness instructor doesn’t have a history of your illness and can put you on a plan that makes your condition worse. Anyone in the Southampton or Eastleigh area we would thoroughly recommend getting referred to Fleming Park.

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