Health and Wellbeing Coach Projects

NHS and Sport England connecting Health and Physical Activity for residents of Burnley

Since Summer 2022 our Health and Wellbeing Coaches, Steven and Mel have been working with the 'Together an Active Future' team (a Sport England project) in Burnley. Their role as 'Connectors' has been to assess opportunities for increased access to physical activity to improve health and wellbeing.

This has resulted in some fantastic projects which you can read about below.

Blood pressure reduction programme

The blood pressure lowering programme was set up by Steven, one of our Health and Wellbeing Coaches, in collaboration with Together an Active Future, Burnley Group Practice and Burnley Leisure. The aim of the programme was to identify patients who were at risk of developing hypertension. The programme focused on educating patients about the factors affecting blood pressure, encouraging healthier lifestyle choices, and providing practical strategies for managing blood pressure. Patients noted that at the end of the programme they felt more confident in being able to manage their blood pressure and were able to introduce healthier habits into their lifestyle.

Audit on accessibility and representation

Mel, our Health and Wellbeing Coach worked closely with Cheryl Goodman (Health Partnership Manager, Burnley Leisure), and Simon Townley (Burnley Leisure & Culture facility user) to audit the current accessibility of Burnley Leisure's leisure facilities. The audit report was shared with the team at Burnley Leisure and will be used to make changes to improve accessibility to all facilities. This is a wonderful outcome for our patients - reducing barriers to accessing physical activity.

Increased opportunities for accessible sport

Working closely with TaAF and Burnley Leisure has resulted in improving access to physical activity opportunities for all.

Park Yoga was a Summer long programme of free outdoor yoga. The sessions were every Sunday morning in Queen's Park between May and September. And the good news is, Park Yoga will return in 2024!

Working with TaAF and Burnley Leisure has meant we have also had the incredible opportunity to buy some new adapted bikes to increase access to cycling in Burnley. We will soon be running Inclusive Cycling sessions in Thompson Park. Please email bwpcn@nhs.net for any more information or to have a chat with Mel about what you can expect.

In Spring 2023, we also created an opportunity for our patients to access a free 6 week Yoga for Mental Wellbeing course through a referral from their GP. This was a small pilot project which proved to be very successful.