Information sessions - University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

All our information sessions are led by cardiac health professionals and will give you a greater understanding of your cardiac condition, changes you can make to help your recovery and how to keep your heart healthy.

There is a short tea/coffee break during the session and you can pick up leaflets and chat to the team, other patients and our former patient volunteers during the break.

Talks are held monthly in the Munro Unit at St Richard’s Hospital on Tuesday afternoons. They start at 2.00 pm and last approximately two hours.

These are drop-in sessions, but if you do tell us in advance that you’d like to attend then we can let you know if we need to cancel a session.

Diet

The Eatwell guide says that you should:
Eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day.
Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates.
Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks and yoghurts).
Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein.
Choose unsaturated oils and spreads, and eat in small amounts.

Making good choices about your food and drink can lower your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Changing your diet can reduce your blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and weight, if needed. A Mediterranean-style diet, rich in fruit, vegetables and wholegrain cereals has benefits for heart health.

The NHS Eatwell Guide shows the food groups that form a healthy balanced diet, and gives you an idea of the portions needed to get the balance right and keep your heart and body healthy.

Exercise

We discuss the benefits of exercise for your heart, what type of exercise this needs to be, how much you should be doing and how often it needs to be done.

We also cover how to exercise safely, what happens if you do too much and where to find continued support once you’ve been discharged from the hospital team.

Heart facts, risk factors and medication

The cardiac nurses will explain how the heart works, the difference between a heart attack and angina, the factors that put you at risk of heart disease and how you can change these by having a healthy lifestyle.

We talk about the various cardiac investigations and procedures that you may have had or are waiting for and why these procedures are done.

We provide information on the most commonly used heart medications, which can help keep your symptoms under control while at the same time trying to prevent heart conditions. We also talk about their most common side effects, why you have been given certain medications and the importance of making sure you’re taking your medication as instructed.

Physical health and emotional wellbeing

This talk will be about how to live with a heart condition that may affect your wellbeing. It’ll help you improve your mood and stay well by using positive self-management skills.

Resus/basic life support

Would you know what to do if someone collapsed? This is a practical session in which you can gain some valuable lifesaving skills and information. Due to the practical element of this session, surgical patients need to be at least three months post-op. Questions are always encouraged throughout the sessions.