Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed Marg Mayne, Chief Executive – Mytime Active (“Chief Executive”), Debra Weekes, Partnerships Manager – Mytime Active (“Partnerships Manager”) and Kelly Stead, Head of Sales and Customer Experience – Mytime Active (“Head of Sales and Customer Experience”) to the meeting to provide an update on the work being undertaken to improve wellbeing in the local community.

The Chief Executive informed Board Members that Mytime Active was a Social Enterprise, and a registered charity, with a mission to improve the wellbeing of the local community. Mytime Active were committed to doing so by being financially self-sustainable and operating without recourse to public funds. The services provided and upkeep of the facilities were funded by customers paying (monthly membership or “pay and play” session by session), and the re-investment of profits into the community programmes and facilities.

The programmes delivered were run mostly from the Borough’s leisure facilities, which Mytime Active operated. This provided a good geographical spread, easily accessible to Bromley’s community:

-  Walnuts Leisure Centre, Darrick Wood Swimming Pool and Crofton Halls;

-  Biggin Hill Memorial Library and Pool;

-  High Elms Golf Centre in Downe;

-  West Wickham Leisure Centre;

-  Spa in Beckenham and Beckenham Public Halls: and

-  Pavilion Leisure Centre in central Bromley as well as Bromley Common Golf Centre, and the Great Hall in the Civic Centre.

In addition, Mytime Active also operated Orpington Golf Centre (Cray and Ruxley) under lease from a private landlord.

The Chief Executive highlighted that physical inactivity was having a serious impact on both mental and physical health – it was responsible for 1 in 6 UK deaths; up to 40% of many long-term conditions; and around 30% of later life functional limitations and falls.

The Head of Sales and Customer Experience noted that the ethos of Mytime Active was based on research and best practice of health and wellbeing, from which the following four pathways had been derived, and could help improve wellbeing at any age:

#Be Active –  including improved awareness of own fitness levels and knowledge to make healthy activity choices.

#Eat Well –  including improved nutritional knowledge and increased confidence on choosing healthy eating.

#Be Positive –  including improved self-confidence, self-esteem, metal health resilience and knowledge of healthy choices.

#Be Together –  including more opportunities for social interaction and adding to a sense of belonging.

Mytime Active ran several referrals programme:

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

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

-  Heart Smart Exercise Referral Programmes (specialist sessions for secondary prevention for cardiovascular disease);

-  Fresh Start Friendly (FSF) (on-going classes for those completing a health programme: circuits, Managing Arthritic Pain (MAP) classes)

-  Primetime (for older adults and deconditioned adults. Includes: gym, dance, group exercise, aquafit and table tennis); and

-  Personal Coaching (qualified staff work with the customer on a 1-2-1 to improve training effectiveness and efficiency).

These were established prior to the COVID-19 pandemic – all programmes were run by trained individuals and delivered to around 13,000 participants. Post-pandemic, these programmes had continued with clients paying per session or through a concessionary membership. It was noted that following the impact of the pandemic there was a backlog of referrals being made.

The Head of Sales and Customer Experience advised that during the pandemic, time had been taken to develop the Mytime Active offer and new programmes had been created in response to post-COVID needs. In August 2021, the ‘Motivational Interviews’ programme had been launched to help identify goals and support behavioural changes. Two programmes that would be launched during October 2021 were ‘Restore and Recover’ (a physical activity COVID-19 rehabilitation programme, offering 5–30-minute sessions with a specialist Exercise Advisor) and ‘Weight Management’ (a Healthy Habits 12-week accredited course, based on eat well guidelines, including education in behavioural change and each session would include a physical activity). In response to a question, the Head of Sales and Customer Experience advised that the post-COVID services had been developed with input from various Governing Bodies. Mytime Active were keen to link with other partners, such as hospital and community referrals. The Chairman noted that an important interaction point would also be with care coordinators.

The Partnerships Manager noted that Mytime Active wanted to, and could do, more – they aimed to become a well-established and trusted partner, working across the Borough to increase the number of referrals, reaching a wider audience, and expanding their provision. It was highlighted that Mytime Active could not do this on their own and they would need to work with a wider range of organisations – creating new partnerships as well as further building on those that they had already established. This would allow clients to see they were getting the full benefit from what was on offer. The Partnerships Manager highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant financial impact on Mytime Active. They needed to be financial stability – to achieve this they were working hard, listening to customers, and believed that those who were able to pay for the sessions and/or services on offer should continue to do so. Mytime Active also wanted to continue to make joint applications for funding with trusted partner organisations across the Borough. They had recently worked with Bromley Mencap and had been successful in securing £5k from London Support to engage with this group and support the development of a programme for them.

A Member stressed that there were concerns that a large cohort of the population would be severely financially challenged this winter and asked if consideration had been given as to how these people could be helped to access facilities. The Chief Executive said that this had been kept in mind. The organisation had spent its reserves in order to survive the impact of the pandemic and it was increasingly difficult to provide subsidies. Concessionary rates were available, but funding would be needed as it was highlighted that prevention was better than a cure.

The Community Links Bromley representative expressed his thanks for the efforts of the Mytime Active staff that had been redeployed to support the volunteering project during the pandemic. The reference made in the report to Mytime Active continuing to “link with adults with a learning disability through the Round the World Challenge, working in partnership with Community Links Bromley and Bromley Mencap” was highlighted. It was noted that Community Links Bromley had administer the programme and a video had been created, a link to which could be circulated to Board Members following the meeting.

In response to a question, the Chief Executive said that Mytime Active had been obliged to introduce digital bookings – a large number of customers preferred this, and it reduce the amount of people queuing. Part of the funding they received required them to report back to Sports England on who was using their facilities, including addresses and postcodes which were easier to collate through online bookings. However, Mytime Active would continue to ensure that as many people as possible could access their facilities.

The Chairman noted that two of the questions put to the Health and Wellbeing Board by Mytime Active (‘What other services are needed by Bromley residents that Mytime Active can provide?’ and ‘How can we work with the Local Authority and community partners to improve access?’) should be considered by Board Members, and suggestions provided. A Member highlighted that the consumption of alcohol had increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and enquired if this could be incorporated in Mytime Active’s plan to improve people’s health. The Chief Executive agreed that this was a good point and would be “taken on board”. It was noted that Mytime Active had introduced low-alcohol and non-alcohol beer at its Golf Centres – this aimed to reduce alcohol consumption and the associated risk of drink-driving. The Partnerships Manager advised that she would be meeting with the Local Authority’s Public Health team in the near future regarding substance misuse and would take this suggestion forward.

In response to a question regarding the confidence of customers returning to swimming pools, the Chief Executive advised that Mytime Active had been required to follow operational protocols and industry guidance, including social distancing. People had been extremely cautious when pools and leisure centres had reopened, but they had received good feedback from customers regarding the measures put in place. With regards to their ‘Learn to Swim’ programme, the confidence of children had understandably dropped following the periods of lockdown. To help address this, when they had first reopened smaller classes had been implemented; additional swimming courses had been held during the school holidays; and crash-courses were planned for the upcoming October half term. It was noted that swimming clubs had been welcomed back, however following adaptations to the programme they may be held on different days or at different times.

A Member said that he agreed with the comments made by the representative from Mytime Active – the closure of gyms and sports clubs had not just impacted physical wellbeing, there had also been a real impact on people’s mental wellbeing. It was highlighted that there had been several studies evidencing the need to be active, and that obesity was a significant risk factor for both infection, and for poorer outcomes if infected with COVID-19.

Another Member asked how Mytime Active planned to maximise the effect of Emma Raducanu following her recent tennis title win at the US Open. The Chief Executive said that it was recognised across the industry that, despite working very well with other younger and older ages groups, there was a gap in the offer for those aged 11-14 years old. Consideration needed to be given as to how the offer could be developed in the formative years of youngsters, and they were looking at how best to “tap into” that age group.

The Chairman suggested that any further feedback from Board Members could be provided to the Partnerships Manager following the meeting via email. Thanks were extended on behalf of the Board to Marg Mayne, Debra Weekes and Kelly Stead for their presentation.

RESOLVED that the presentation be noted.