Charity pledges to provide rehabilitation services to one in five Scots in five years

All Scots who suffer from heart and lung conditions and those who have had a stroke will have access to rehabilitation service within five years, Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS) has pledged.

The ambition forms the centre of the charity’s new strategy ‘No Life Half Lived’, which was launched this week.

It is thought over a million Scots are living with the effects of serious chest and heart conditions and stroke.

CHSS has said it must expand its operations to meet this demand.

Speaking to Holyrood, the charity’s chief executive Jane-Claire Judson said: “As a charity we’ve gone from moving from a medical model to a more social model, and actually beyond.

“It’s almost emergent, and there’s almost not a label for it and I don’t think there should be. We have to be responding to the changes around us. Our vision for that is that there should be no life half-lived in Scotland as a result of our conditions.”

The charity is to open community hubs, which will provide advice and support, as well as space for the wider community to use.

One of these was opened in Drumchapel this week by Labour’s shadow health secretary Anas Sarwar.

The Drumchapel hub will include a ‘drop-in’ area where local residents can meet for tea or coffee or a chat and provide up-to-date information for people living with chest, heart or stroke conditions. There is also a large community room available for local groups and organisations to use as well as a discount store including clothing and household items.

Sarwar said: “The support and facilities that CHSS are providing for the local community will be meeting a real need for my constituents, where there are very significant health challenges for many people. It’s great to see new and innovative approaches being developed in locations where they’re really needed.”

You can read the full interview with Jane-Claire Judson in the next issue of Holyrood Magazine.