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Prehab4Cancer puts health clubs and leisure centres on the frontline of cancer care and the preventative health agenda
Andy King
The power OF PREHAB A pioneering prehab programme is helping thousands of cancer sufferers achieve better health and surgical outcomes, as HCM reports
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pioneering exercise, nutrition and wellbeing programme supporting cancer patients in preparation for treatment and surgeries is expanding into east and mid-Cheshire following a successful twoyear rollout across Greater Manchester. Prehab4Cancer (P4C) is one of the first prehabilitation and recovery programmes for cancer patients in the UK and is reporting significant results in terms of improving surgical outcomes, with all the benefits this brings to both patients and the bottom line. An analysis of outcomes has found that prehab patients who’ve gone through the programme spend an average of 36 hours less time in hospital and 10 hours less in critical care, releasing 550 ward-beds-days and 146 critical care-bed-days.
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Issue 2 2022 ©Cybertrek 2022
Research into the programme has shown – for example – that bed-days ‘released’ by the shorter stays of 1,000 colorectal prehab patients enabled 179 additional patients to access surgery in a timely way, while bed-days ‘released’ by prehab patients actually covered the entire annual cost involved in setting up and delivering the P4C programme. Patients also experienced fewer post-operative complications and enjoyed a better recovery when assessed against four efficacy benchmarks: the commonly-used six-minute walk test to measure aerobic capacity and endurance; the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS); the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the descriptive system for health-related quality of life, known as EQ5D.
