Published on: 12,Nov 2024

Millions more moving is our first policy report on how we can tackle inactivity by supporting people with long-term conditions to move. In this blog series, colleagues working in different areas of health and physical activity will be discussing themes central to the three policy ‘shifts’ the report calls for: leadership and accountability, movement embedded in healthcare, and movement as part of everyday life.

 

Jennifer Huygen, Head of Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Community Leisure UK 

 

Community Leisure UK is working with the Richmond Group of Charities to support people with long-term conditions to become more active, building on both members’ work and exchanging insights. Our shared aim is for people living with long-term health conditions to feel welcome and included in the leisure and culture services provided by Community Leisure UK members.  

 

Encouraging movement as part of everyday life 

Community Leisure UK members are already working hard to make their general public leisure and culture programmes more accessible and inclusive, to encourage people to move more. For example, 70% of our members manage strength and balance programmes, supporting people to try out gentle movements, and 63% of our members manage health walks which bring people together and encourages them to be out and about in their local area. 

 

The Richmond Group’s expertise and insights provide our members with an understanding of how to address barriers to being active for people with long-term health conditions. Through a consistent approach of lifting pockets of good practice into a national approach, we can move to an understanding of public leisure and culture as part of an active wellbeing service. 

 

One such programme being delivered is in Cleethorpes. Lincs Inspire’s Active Forever programme supports people with long-term conditions to get the physical and mental support they need to manage their symptoms or prepare for and recover from surgery. One of the people supported, Stuart, fought hard to get his life back on track after his stroke in 2017ⁱⁱⁱ. He pushed himself to exercise; a love of swimming saw him progress from being out of breath walking from his car to the entrance, to being capable of swimming a mile every session. Stuart now attends his local leisure centre 5 times a week. 

 

Embedding movement in health 

In some places, our members already collaborate with local health systems to provide dedicated, tailored programmes for people living with long-term health conditions that people can sign up for themselves or be referred to by their healthcare provider.

 

An example is Active Luton’s Power Our Minds (POM) Exercise Programme, dedicated to supporting individuals who are struggling with poor mental health, including stress, anxiety, low mood, PTSD, loneliness and social isolation, from the age of 16.  Alongside a variety of group activities, such as Tai Chi, dance, and walking groups, POM builds in Talking Therapy which provides sessions focused on managing symptoms of anxiety and depression. As a result of this programme, 75% of participants have reduced their visits to GPs and A&E. 

 

This community partnership approach integrates public leisure services into a wider health and wellbeing service, providing all local organisations with the support and resources to help people with long-term conditions move more and manage their symptoms. 

 

Towards an Active Wellbeing Service 

Every day, across the country, our members are offering cardiac rehabilitation, dementia-friendly activities, health walks, weight management, social prescribing, cancer rehab and adult mental health programmes as standard. We must recognise and celebrate good practice, and understand how to build on it and scale the offer.  

A successful Active Wellbeing Service would embed expertise and insight from partners like the Richmond Group and the lived experience of people with long-term health conditions, along with the local expertise of our members to develop a local approach that is co-developed by local stakeholders to deliver accessible services that help people move more. 

 

Change is happening. In West Suffolk, the collaboration started as a physical activity referral programme with a respiratory and frailty pathway delivered through a 24-week falls prevention programme by Abbeycroft Leisure. Now in its third year, the collaboration has led to more health and wellbeing interventions that build on the wider system approach, including adult weight management and elective care for orthopaedic patients, and is integrated in the wider Health Lifestyles contract funded by Public Health and delivered by Abbeycroft Leisure in partnership with local community organisations. 

 

We know change is needed to tackle health inequalities and our members are up for the challenge.

 

The potential, if we look at change across the system, is vast and, collectively, we can get millions more moving.