Programmes are delivered in the community, in schools and in workplaces to help people make positive changes to their lifestyle through increasing physical activity and healthy eating behaviours. The support we provide allows the districts to confidently develop their physical activity and healthy eating offers with insight and evidence underpinning their solutions.
A popular part of the service is the Wellbeing Walks scheme, which we manage on behalf of the districts with East Cambs leading the day-to-day coordination. 48 regular walks now run across the county, with 91 walk leaders providing an opportunity for people to be active and socialise with members of their local community every week. Wellbeing Walks is an area of growth and we are looking to extend the programme over the next year to diversify the walks on offer – buggy walks, faith walks and sensory walks have been discussed.
Healthy You also links with Primary Care Networks and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams to improve local health pathways. GP surgeries can refer patients directly into the service to access exiting local activities: 18% of referrals were through SystmOne (clinical record system) which includes those from healthcare professionals (a 166% increase in referrals over last year) so we have supported districts to manage this increase in number of referrals to reduce backlogs and waiting times.
Alongside this, we facilitate training for the local coordinators based on identified service need. In year 3, we signposted to MECC, mental health in sport and physical activity and CIMSPA marketing hub training and provided SystmOne and Healthy Eating training as well as planning sessions for each district which has allowed us to further develop the service.
Healthy You has seen positive outcomes during it’s third year (more than half (56%) of participants reported achieving their own goals at 12 weeks), likely due to the service being delivered with a greater focus on targeting areas of need and health inequalities and ensuring the sustainability of participation.
Healthy You is a service with more reach than any single organisation could achieve alone – and this is due to the involvement of both ourselves and our local authority partners; we all play different but key roles to reach this number of people.
Healthy You has grown over the past year and more people are benefiting from its service. Such positive impact is only achievable because of the partnership we have with the local authorities. We have been commissioned for a further year by Public Health to continue the Healthy You service as well as receiving confirmation of funding for an additional post that will sit within Living Sport to streamline and manage referrals into Healthy You.
Sophie Etheridge – Adaptive Athlete “I have always swum but not always been disabled…” Sophie, a determined and passionate individual, has faced numerous challenges since her cycling accident in 2011.
Once this framework has been published, we encourage partners to consider how they can implement the framework to make a real change for disabled people to access physical activity, sport, and leisure in the way they want, when they want, with no barriers placed on them by society.
In partnership with the South Care Partnership, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICS and Cambridge United Community Trust, Living Sport are coordinating a walking football project in South Cambridgeshire running from March 2023.
Our aim is to improve health, happiness and wellbeing by supporting people to be active, in a meaningful way through programmes, events and influencing policy. Your donations are hugely appreciated and help make this possible.
