FORMER mayor of Newport Ron Morris owes much of his recovery from a heart bypass operation to the efforts of cardiac rehabilitation staff at St Woolos Hospital.

He did not forget how they helped to get him in shape for his year of office in 2001/02, and raised £36,000 through his Mayor's Appeal to re-equip the unit.

Now he's been back to see - and test - the equipment for himself, and was bowled over by the fruits of his fundraising efforts.

"They do an excellent job at St Woolos, and now they have excellent new equipment to help them out," he said.

"They've bought top class equipment and over the next 10-15 years it will hopefully help many more people to get back their fitness after heart problems.

"I had my operation in March 2001, a few weeks before my term of office began, and without it and the care I received afterwards, I wouldn't have been able to do it."

Around 240 recovering heart patients come through the St Woolos unit every year, referred for a twice weekly, six-week rehabilitation course taking in exercise and lifestyle programmes. Staff also run an angina management programme.

The seven-strong team of nurses is supported by a multi-disciplinary team including physiotherapists, dieticians and pharmacists.

As well as St Woolos, which was the first cardiac rehabilitation unit in Wales, there are outreach programmes in Caerphilly and Caldicot, and at County Hospital, Griffithstown, to minimise the distances patients must travel to attend sessions. The unit depends on fundraising.

"We've bought new exercise equipment, laptops, and a projector and tables so we can improve our presentations. It's good for patients and staff, who do a lot of teaching for other professionals," said Angela Knott, clinical nurse specialist in cardiac rehabilitation. "Councillor Morris's generosity has helped us enormously."