A six week course for One Vision Housing customers took place at Millspring Court in Bootle with local health commissioners and Sefton Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) to help people self-care for their breathing conditions.

NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and One Vision Housing organised the course for customers who have a breathing condition such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Those who joined the group benefitted from classes on breathing self-management, inhaler techniques and looking after themselves through the cold weather whilst staying independent.

Suzanne Meylan, independent living manager at One Vision Housing, said: “It is important to us that we give our customers access to information to improve their health as close to home as possible so this course was perfect for many of them as it was held in the communal room at Millsprings. Hopefully we’ll roll out similar sessions in other areas in the future. In the One Vision Housing session we spoke to the customers about our independent living service and offered advice on how to keep warm in the winter months with Sefton Council’s affordable warmth team.”

Jenny Kristiansen, respiratory programme lead at NHS South Sefton CCG, said: “We wanted to tailor each session so that customers got the most from the course. Working with Sefton CVS, Liverpool Community Health and Healthwatch Sefton, our sessions focused on topics such as advice on staying active, relaxation and breathing techniques and advice on how to cope under stress and train the mind to not let stress affect your breathing.”

The general feedback following the sessions was positive. One individual said that they felt more assertive since the course and more confident, whilst others said that the exercises had really improved their breathing when walking and they could now climb stairs a lot easier than previously. Others said that the sessions were good as they got people with similar conditions together and hopefully they will keep in touch.

The event was organised with support from Mersey Internal Audit Agency (MIAA), a specialist provider of internal audit and related services in the UK. The overarching object of this project was to demonstrate the significant benefits that can be achieved through health and housing working collaboratively.