Physical activity at the heart of local wellbeing services

Ever wondered how the sport and recreation sector can engage with the health agenda and local commissioning? How physical activity can be part of a holistic local approach? Richard Brown gives an example of how the Integrated Wellbeing Service in Blackburn with Darwen has put physical activity at the heart of its public health agenda.

First, here’s a bit of background to the population of Blackburn with Darwen:
• The 35% of the population with long-term conditions account for 70% of health care expenditure, about £200 million in Blackburn with Darwen, and half of all GP consultations
• People living in the most deprived parts of Blackburn with Darwen are 50% more likely to have a long-term condition as compared to most affluent areas.
• 65% of those with long-term conditions are of working age (40,000) and half of these people are out of work

Back in 2006/7, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and the Care Trust Plus invested £6 million over three years in the re:fresh project. re:fresh offered a population-based approach to increasing physical activity and provided access to a range of leisure, health and wellbeing services. However, over the coming years cuts to local authority budgets and changing agendas meant that revisions to re:fresh had to be made. In 2014, the project evolved into the Integrated Wellbeing Service.

The Integrated Wellbeing Service is commissioned by Public Health and links to the Health and Wellbeing Board and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The Service started in April 2014 and combines CCG funded projects focused on specific conditions (cardiac, stroke rehabilitation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) with a range of public health funded services (smoking cessation, free leisure, health trainers, weight management, falls prevention etc) as well as core council services to address employment, housing and financial issues.

This brings together inter-related agendas into one place; enabling sport and recreation providers to be part of a holistic approach and giving them greater prominence in the ‘health world’.

Members of the community can be referred by GPs or other professionals, they can also self-refer. They enter the Wellbeing Service through a single point of access where they are supported by a Wellbeing Hub advisor to engage with the local offer, such as health trainers and physical activity services. This can then lead into on-going support with wider determinants of wellbeing such as benefits and housing advice.

The Council has found that benefits of such an approach include:
• Removes reliance on individual knowledge of services
• Measures relevant outcomes more effectively
• More efficient use of existing resources

Richard Brown, Leisure Health and Wellbeing Partnerships Manager at Blackburn with Darwen Council said:

“Local authorities must not look at physical activity in isolation. The Integrated Wellbeing Service shows how it can be part of a holistic approach to health and wellbeing. By bringing local partners together, we have created a service that responds to local needs and creates a more stable environment. Health professionals want more people to be active, they just need to be provided with the means to do that in a simple, effective and replicable way”

You can find out more about the Integrated Wellbeing Service here or in this Public Health England / Local Government Association report. Alternatively you can contact Richard Brown.

If you have other examples of how physical activity has been linked into a local health and wellbeing offer please send them through to Hannah Dobbin, Policy Adviser.
 

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