What happens at your pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) assessment?

Before starting pulmonary rehabilitation, you'll be invited to a health check to see if it's right for you. Find out what to expect.

Your first appointment will be a session to learn more about pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) and check it's right for you. This is called an assessment.

The appointment will usually be with you and a healthcare professional from your PR team. You can bring somebody else with you if you want to. It should last around 60 to 90 minutes.

At your assessment, your healthcare professional should:

  • explain what PR is and what you’ll do in PR sessions
  • ask you to think about how you want PR to help you
  • ask you about your medical history, including any medicines you take and any other health conditions you have.

Your healthcare professional will do some simple health checks to see how PR will help you.

This usually includes taking your blood pressure and doing some walking activities to see how your COPD symptoms affect you when you move. Your healthcare professional will support you to do these activities safely, and you’ll only be asked to do things that you’re able to do.

If your assessment finds that PR is not right for you, your healthcare professional will explain why and talk to you about your next steps.

If you are invited to start PR your healthcare professional will talk to you about when you can start, where the sessions are held, and answer any questions you may have.