The Board received a presentation from Gillian Fiumicelli, LBB Head of Vascular Disease Prevention Programme, Debra Weekes, Mytime Partnerships Manager and Diane Friday, Active Lifestyles Programme Manager, Mytime Active. The presentation provided the health and wellbeing benefits of physical activity; a brief overview of what was happening in Bromley; and an update from Mytime Active.

Inactivity was having a serious impact on both mental and physical health. Since the 1960’s, adults were over 20% less active, and this would increase to 35% by 2030. Physical inactivity was responsible for one in six deaths; up to 40% of many long-term conditions; and around 30% of later life functional limitation and falls. The annual cost of physical inactivity was estimated to be £7.4 billion.

The results of the Sport England Active Lives Survey 2019 indicated that adults in Bromley were slightly more active than the national average, but over 30% were not taking the recommended thirty minutes of activity per day. To help address this, the Pro-Active Bromley Strategic Framework 2017-2022 had been developed. There were a number of aims, including to support the increased participation in sport and physical activity across the Borough; to reduce the number of inactive people; and to encourage regular and sustainable activity habits for those new to physical activity. There would be a focus on under-representative groups, and on encouraging more disabled people into activity. One of the key members helping to achieve this was Mytime Active.

The Mytime Partnerships Manager informed Members that Mytime Active was a social enterprise – an independent charity that reinvested all profits back into facilities, services and programmes. Work was also undertaken within local communities, providing support and funding for a range of projects and partnerships aimed at improving wellbeing. They were an integrated wellbeing provider and trusted experts in the areas of healthy lifestyles, fitness, nutrition and childcare, and offered a wide range activities. Mytime Active also delivered specialist social, health and wellbeing programmes, providing targeted support.

One of the programmes that Mytime Active delivered for older people was their ‘Primetime Programme’. Since July 2018, the programme had expanded, with an increase of:

-  weekly activity sessions (from 85 to 100);

-  members (from 2,736 to 3,251); and,

-  volunteer ‘Primetime Buddies’ (from 24 to 30).

It was noted that the ‘Primetime Buddies’ were instrumental in helping assist older people getting into facilities, and acting as health mentors. The 30 volunteers carried out over 3,800 sessions of activities. In addition, there were now dedicated Primetime staff and an annual programme of social events. Programmes had been developed, such as strength and stability; senior circuits; and ‘Remember to Move’ classes. Community classes had also been held in areas such as Biggin Hill, Farnborough Village and Petts Wood.

In response to a question, the Mytime Partnerships Manager said that feedback received from older service users indicated that they preferred sessions to take place in the morning or afternoon, and not during evenings and weekends. This had been a challenge in terms of using venues such as schools, as the timings did not always coincide. It was suggested that consideration could be given to running sessions in school venues during the school holidays.

The ‘Leisurecare’ offer for adults with learning disabilities was continuing to be run, with four sessions taking place per week. Participants paid for half or full day sessions, with a varied programme of activities including gym sessions, swimming, golf, sports hall activities and zumba. A link had been established with Bromley Adult Education College, who were offering arts and crafts sessions throughout the year. There had been an increase in numbers, with over 65 attendees attending every week.

The Active Lifestyles Programme Manager, Mytime Active informed Members that Bromley CCG had a three-year contract for the ‘Exercise on Referral’ programme. This was a programme where people with long-term health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiac heart disease increased their physical activity levels by regularly using local leisure centres, following referrals from healthcare professionals or via the Community Cardiac Programme. All other referrals were self-funded at concessionary rates. Referrals came into a ‘hub’, and were triaged and signposted onto the most appropriate programmes, which included:

-  Fresh Start Exercise Referral Programmes (a supervised physical activity programme for those recovering from illness or those diagnosed or living with a long-term medical condition);

-  Heart Start Exercise Referral Programmes (a supervised specialist session for secondary prevention for cardiovascular disease);

-  ESCAPE-pain (a group-based, NICE-approved rehabilitation programme for the management of osteoarthritis of the hip and / or knee);

-  FSF (circuits, gym, Managing Arthritic Pain classes and new programmes on Functional Fitness and aquatic exercise would also be piloted); and,

-  Mytime Active Golf on Referral (fun, interactive sessions combining group activity sessions on improving health and wellbeing and learning to play golf or brushing up on basics skills).

Sessions took place at leisure centres across the Borough, during the week and weekends, at various times of the day. The programme consisted of twelve supervised sessions with a Level 4 Exercise Specialist. Initial and Completion Assessments were undertaken and included manual pulse and blood pressure checks. Following completion, service users were offered access to reduced health memberships for continued exercise benefits, and follow-ups took place at six and twelve months post-completion. From April 2019 to date, 1,400 referrals and 9,500 attendances had been recorded.

In response to a question, the Active Lifestyles Programme Manager, Mytime Active advised Board Members that the follow-up at six and twelve months post-completion indicated that those service users who had dropped out had done so due to illness, or flare up of a medical condition. They then tended to be re-referred at a late date, once it was under control again.

Areas for development included targeting more inactive people through programme and facility developments including:

-  programme development for exercise referral (e.g. Functional Fitness, Escape Pain for Backs, Aquatic Exercise on Referral);

-  Mind and Body Studio at The Spa, Beckenham;

-  Monthly Workshops;

-  Community provision for older people and access to a wide variety of physical activity sessions.

A Member emphasised that the ESCAPE-pain programme was excellent, but questioned if the required resources were available to meet increased demand if the offer was expanded. The Active Lifestyles Programme Manager, Mytime Active confirmed that back-to-back sessions were being held every six weeks, and currently there was no waiting list. Assurances were given in terms of staffing capacity to deliver this programme.

There was constant scrutiny of programmes, and looking for ways to develop them further. Mytime Active were asking for support from Board Members to spread the message through their networks – to promote the benefits of physical activity to healthcare professionals and the exercise referral programmes to targeted patients.

In response to a question, the LBB Head of Vascular Disease Prevention Programme said that there were some groups that they had a particular interest in, however they had not focussed on specific cultural groups. There were some disease specific programmes, and some that were language based. A Member highlighted that other Boroughs ran women only swimming sessions, which had proved extremely popular, and asked if this was offered by Mytime Active. The Active Lifestyles Programme Manager, Mytime Active responded that this was not something that they had received requests for, but it was certainly something that could be easily facilitated and piloted.

A Member asked whether there was the potential for a Bromley app that could send notifications to publicise health and wellbeing events that were taking place. The Independent Chair of the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board noted that the Bromley Safeguarding Partnership app and the Private Fostering app were currently being adapted to allow ‘push notification’ to be sent for events, and they would be willing to include information on events run by Mytime Active. The LBB Communications Executive said that information could also be retweeted by the LBB Twitter account, and included in newsletters.

The Chairman highlighted that there had been a recent push in respect of ‘Brain Health’, and promoting the evidence of exercise in preventing some of the risks of dementia. It was suggested that the ‘badging’ of programmes could be considered to remind people of the additional benefits of exercise. The Mytime Partnerships Manager agreed, and noted that the majority of their programmes would support ‘Brain Health’. Mytime Active were part of the Bromley Dementia Action Alliance, looking to improve facilities to be more dementia-friendly, and the ‘Primetime Buddies’ provided daily support to members with dementia in helping them to continue exercising. The outreach of the ‘Remember to Move’ pilot had also been extended to new people through Dementia Cafés. This was an exercise class with a time to socialise afterwards. The pilot had been extremely successful, and they hoped to roll it out to more facilities.

The Chairman thanked Gillian Fiumicelli, Debra Weekes and Diane Friday for an excellent presentation, and invited them to return to the Health and Wellbeing Board to provide an update in twelve months’ time.

RESOLVED that the presentation be noted.