Tom Stone – ‘Professional support’

Tom Stone is an NHS Exercise Specialist in Cardiac Rehab, based with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. He is a great example of how Health Professionals benefit from support from the Gwent Cardiac Rehab Trust Fund. In his own words, he describes how the Fund has enabled teams to keep up to date with the latest developments in cardiac rehabilitation:

I currently work with people who are being rehabilitated post cardiac event and those with heart failure, which is quite a scary term but means that the heart is not pumping out as much blood as we would like.

The patients are with us for 8 weeks and have rehabilitation in the form of exercise but also have medication checked by the nurses and dietary and occupational health advice throughout. It is a rewarding job and an excellent service, that helps people to continue leading healthy lifestyles and lifestyle choices post cardiac event.

Tom at the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (BACPR) conference

I would like to thank Gwent Cardiac Rehab Trust Fund for sending me and my colleagues from Aneurin Bevan Health Board to the 34th annual British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (BACPR) conference.

The conference is a meeting of health professionals working in cardiac rehabilitation nationally, with leading experts in the field sharing information on current research projects, new medications, and up to date working practices. This information is fed back to colleagues and inseminated into our working practices within the health board..

My colleagues and I all felt that at Aneurin Bevan Health Board we are following the safe and up to date practices discussed at the conference. This is in large part to Gwent Cardiac Rehab Trust Fund for sending members of the health boards cardiac rehab teams on study days with the BACPR to make sure we are all as highly qualified as we can be. Enabling us all to run a high standard of programme with the most up to date clinical knowledge.