A GROUP of lung patients have completed a fitness programme aimed at helping them live with their illness.

The eight patients from the University Hospital of North Tees, in Hartlepool, all have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and attend a chest clinic at the hospital.

They were chosen to take part in an eight-week programme to see how exercise could help their illness.

The final session was held yesterday .

Dr Richard Harrison, consultant chest physician said: "COPD is the commonest cause of long-term disability in the UK, yet, traditionally, doctors have taken a nihilistic approach along the lines of 'we can't give you a new set of lungs, you will have to put up with it.' Pulmonary rehabilitation has changed all that and is now available in the respiratory unit at the University Hospital of North Tees.

"The fitness programme is a formal period of supervised exercise training and multi-disciplinary education, which runs for several weeks. The aim of the programme is improving the quality of patients' day-to-day life by reconditioning leg, arm and breathing muscles.

"The patients regain lost confidence and are no longer fearful of becoming stranded by breathlessness. Their exercise endurance also increases."

The hospital hopes to run a course every eight weeks.