A PHYSICAL activity instructor has joined a team of specialist nurses who are helping to fight heart disease.

Nancy Dobson is part of the Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust community cardiac rehabilitation team which helps to improve treatment of people with heart disease. It also aims to help them to resume an active lifestyle.

Ms Dobson's role is to provide cardiac rehabilitation in community centres to enable people who are unable to travel to get access to the service.

The six-week cardiac rehabilitation programme includes exercise, relaxation and health education. Since Ms Dobson's appointment it has been able to expand and now runs regularly at Chester-le-Street parish centre and Silver Courts in Brandon, as well as the University Hospital of North Durham.

Ann Oliver, cardiovascular specialist nurse with the trust, said: "People who have a health problem in the area have better access to services to help them to recover than before, now that the rehabilitation programme has expanded into community centres. These programmes provide an option for people who want to continue to exercise after having a heart event."

Ms Dobson said: "The follow-on class is proof of how successful the programmes have been. Exercise has many long-term benefits, in particular for the heart. We aim to give people the option, so that when the programme finishes, they can continue to exercise."