Nuffield Health’s Cystic Fibrosis Exercise Programme reaches double figures

We have reached a milestone 10th partner, expanding access to our cystic fibrosis programme, after joining forces with University Hospitals of Leicester. Our cystic fibrosis exercise programme provides free, tailored personal training and exercise to young people aged 5-17 living with the life-threatening condition, cystic fibrosis, as well as free access to swimming facilities to under 5s.

The programme, accredited by CIMSPA (the Chartered for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity), is designed to encourage young people to enjoy taking part in exercise while seeking to maintain or improve their lung function. More than 360 children nationwide with cystic fibrosis are supported by us. Parents of the children are also provided with free access to the gym during personal training sessions, to encourage the families to be active together, and we will shortly be expanding this so any family members living at the same address can access our gyms at any time.

Jaime-Ann Oates has been attending the programme in Chelmsford with her son, James, since July last year. James is very active and enjoys competitive mountain biking and rugby. This makes the sessions even more meaningful for James, who gets one-to-one training in a gym before other children his age. James is even hoping his increasing strength and fitness levels will improve his cycling, as he’s determined to win his next meet.

Having seen her son tackle his new fitness regime head-on, Jaime-Ann said: “I am so proud of what he achieves and his attitude. He thoroughly enjoys every session which is great because this feels like a reward for him, something he can do before most of his peers. I would 100 percent recommend the programme. It’s given James a boost and added another string to his bow.”

Our Charity and Medical Director, Dr Davina Deniszczyc, said: “Nuffield Health is uniquely placed to support young people with cystic fibrosis, one of the most common life-threatening, incurable, genetic diseases. We are incredibly proud of how our programme helps improve the health and wellbeing of these young people and look forward to increasing our reach to 480 patients by 2020.”

Naomi Dayman, Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist for Leicester’s Hospitals, said, “Setting up the partnership with Nuffield Health for our children with cystic fibrosis in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Kettering area will promote confidence and exercise to be active. We are hoping that our children will be able to attend weekly personal training session to address their specific needs to promote life-long activity and support the management of cystic fibrosis. This scheme will also support wider family exercise as parents are able to use the facilities in the Nuffield Health gym whilst their child is having personal training sessions, which is an excellent message to give to our child and to promote a healthy and active lifestyle.”

Last updated Tuesday 23 July 2019

First published on Tuesday 23 July 2019