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COVID-19 rehabilitation will improve exercise tolerance, muscle strength, and help patients manage breathlessness, and potentially allow someone to be discharged earlier. The treatments in this guide, produced by Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, focus on breathing, functional and physical exercises. Only complete exercises at home and in hospital that have been discussed with a clinician.

This document, developed by McMaster University's School of Rehabilitation Science in Canada, provides a guide for rehabilitation practice during the COVID-19 crisis. Informed by the best available evidence, including consultation with the clinical community, this living document consolidates findings from resources for front line rehabilitation professionals.

As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, clinicians and researchers rapidly published guidance and data and shared their experiences in the hope of understanding the virus better. Their shared purpose was to keep more patients safe from becoming acutely unwell or dying. While the initial focus was on treating the hospitalised, one Trust was also thinking ahead to the challenging recovery many would face.

This patient information pack has been produced by staff at Homerton University Hospital. It is designed to help people recover and manage their symptoms following COVID-19.

In this blog, Suzanne Rastrick, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for NHS England, urges colleagues to start describing service improvements they are undertaking as part of the COVID response and considering what evidence they may need to create a case to continue the good practice. She asks 'what could we be doing now to measure impact and are we capturing data already that could be developed or utilised to demonstrate and evidence the improvements created through changes in working practices?' 

This statement outlines the UK's four nations’ collective strategic priorities and approach to Allied Health Professional (AHP) rehabilitation leadership during and after COVID-19. Rehabilitation is critical to ensuring our population’s recovery from the impacts of the pandemic and the long-term sustainability of the health and social care system. AHPs are at the centre in shaping the rehabilitation agenda while working as part of the wider multidisciplinary and multiagency teams across all sectors.

Access to high quality community rehabilitation for those worst affected by COVID-19 will be critical. On the horizon is a significant increase in demand. These services already face major disruption from the pandemic due to the redeployment of the workforce and social distancing and shielding requirements. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy have published some FAQs to help physiotherapists understand what this means for rehabilitation during the pandemic.

Physiotherapy is critical for treating those worst affected by Covid19, including access to community rehabilitation after discharge from hospital. We face a huge increase in demand for high quality community rehab services. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) sets out what system leaders and policy makers will need to do to meet this challenge.

The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care (ACPRC) has published the Physiotherapy management for COVID-19 in the acute hospital setting: recommendations to guide clinical practice.This was based on international collaboration to provide guidance for clinical practice in patients with COVID-19. Please note that this is guidance only, and should be applied as appropriate to your own clinical area and local policies and guidance.

Hip fracture is a serious, life-changing injury that can affect older people, and is the most common reason for them to need emergency anaesthesia and surgery. The Physiotherapy Hip Fracture Sprint Audit (PHFSA) was the biggest ever audit of UK physiotherapy, and has implications for physiotherapists working in many settings.

During periods of extreme pressure, often exacerbated by a surge in respiratory conditions, demand on supplies of oxygen cylinders, especially the smaller sizes, increases in the NHS due to the need to provide essential oxygen treatment in areas without access to medical gas pipeline systems. This surge in demand increases the known risks associated with the use of oxygen gas cylinders, and introduces new risks, across three main areas: patient safety fire safety physical safety A search of incidents reported to the of the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) and Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service in the last 12 months identified 120 patient safety incidents, including those with these themes: cylinder empty at point of use cylinder not switched on cylinders inappropriately transported cylinders inappropriately secured Some of these reports described compromised oxygen delivery to the patient, leading to serious deterioration and cardiac or respiratory arrest. In addition there is a need to conserve oxygen cylinder use to ensure a robust supply chain process. As a result of current pressures on the NHS, NHS England issued providers with a summary of best practice guidance on the ‘Safe use of oxygen cylinders’ on Friday 06 January 2023 to support providers to optimise and maintain the safe use of oxygen cylinders. This guidance was issued via the Patient Safety Specialist and Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) networks. Actions To be completed as soon as possible, and not later than 20 January 2023. 1.  The chair of acute trust medical gas committee, working with key clinical/non-clinical colleagues including the local ambulance trust, should review the NHS England ‘Safe use of oxygen cylinders’ best practice guidance and ensure a risk assessment is undertaken in all areas where patients are being acutely cared for (either temporarily or permanently) without routine access to medical gas pipeline systems.  Risk assessment should pay particular attention to: avoiding unnecessary use of cylinder oxygen and excessive flow rates by ensuring oxygen treatment is optimised to recommended target saturation ranges. ensuring safe use of oxygen cylinders by clinical staff including; - safe activation of oxygen flow - initial and ongoing checks of flow to patient - initial and ongoing checks of amount of oxygen left in the cylinder - especially during transfer or whilst undergoing diagnostic tests. fire safety, including: - appropriate ventilation (both in physical environments and in ambulances),  safe storage of cylinders physical safety, including: - awareness of manual handling requirements - safe transportation of cylinders using appropriate equipment - safe storage of cylinders. 2. Once the risk assessments have been undertaken, convene the acute trust medical gas committee as soon as possible to review the findings of the risk assessments and formalise an action plan. Ensuring that the committee has executive director representation and ambulance trust input.