- Posted on 13 Oct 2025
- 2-minute read
A pilot program co-designed by patients, carers, clinicians and researchers has established a service model that can help people living with breathlessness to better manage their daily activities.
One in 10 Australians has long-term debilitating breathlessness, with many regularly seeking emergency help.
Now a pilot program in the Australian Capital Territory, developed with University of Technology Sydney (UTS) researchers, has demonstrated that a home-based breathlessness intervention service can “coach” people living with breathlessness to self-manage and reduce the need to attend hospital emergency departments.
Commissioned by the Capital Health Network (CHN) and hailed as a world first, the ACT Breathlessness Intervention Service (ABIS) has been co-designed with people with lived experience, carers, clinicians and researchers, with a private allied health provider, Southside Physio, funded to deliver the pilot.
“This pilot involved home-visits from a physiotherapist teaching people living with breathlessness how to use breathing techniques, increase activity and reduce anxiety to improve their ability to do activities of daily living, such as showering and walking,” Capital Health Network CEO Stacy Leavens said.
UTS’s independent evaluation of the pilot found that all patients showed improvement in daily living activities and breathlessness mastery. 21 per cent of patients reported avoiding calling an ambulance on 46 occasions by using ABIS-learned strategies.
ABIS is the first program of its kind to have focused on trying to improve daily activities of each person’s choosing, like dressing
Physiotherapist Simon Kragh, Southside Physio Director, said he was proud to have witnessed first-hand remarkable improvements in the lives of patients living with breathlessness.
“One of our patients who previously called emergency services up to 150 times a year no longer needed to rely on ambulances after our intervention. Even after the pilot finished, we’ve continued to receive a steady stream of breathlessness referrals, highlighting the program’s lasting value.
“There are still many more patients who could benefit from this unique, individualised approach. Additional funding would be hugely beneficial, helping us extend this vital service to others who urgently need it,” said Mr Kragh.
Associate Professor Tim Luckett, working with IMPACCT (Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation) in the UTS Faculty of Health, said this was the first time that such an intervention service had been co-designed, which had led to several innovations compared to other models.
“ABIS was co-designed by a team of people with breathlessness, carers and clinicians who worked together to make joint decisions. ABIS is the first program of its kind to have focused on trying to improve daily activities of each person’s choosing, like dressing, which was highlighted during co-design to be the most important outcome for people living with breathlessness and their families,” Associate Professor Luckett said.
The ABIS evaluation is also the first to have measured reach, adoption, implementation and maintenance to inform the design of future models worldwide.
The independent evaluation report of ABIS is available for download from the Capital Health Network.