The Panel to meet with Mark Tweedie, Chief Executive; and Lyndsey Sims, Director of Services and Business Development, Active Tameside to receive an update on planned developments and partnership approach to tackling health inequalities.
Minutes:
The Panel welcomed Lyndsey Sims, Director of Services and Business Development, Active Tameside; and Shaun Higgins, Head of Community and Access, Active Tameside, to receive an update on the work currently being carried out across the borough, planned developments and the partnership approach being used to tackle health inequalities.
The Panel heard that Active Tameside currently manages 8 leisure facilities with two new facilities expected to be open from January 2017. It also oversees 3 school sites, engages with over 7000 children per week through P.E. and School Sport, and works with approximately 1000 people with long term health diagnoses to help them to manage and overcome their conditions.
Ms Sims informed members that the mission for Active Tameside is to empower people of any age or ability to be physically active, live well and feel great. In addition, the overarching vision for the organisation is to become the “go-to” organisation to conquer inactivity and improve healthy life expectancy. To achieve these, Active Tameside is delivering strategies that will help people of all ages to Start Well, Develop Well, Live Well and Age Well.
To ensure that Active Tameside maintains competitive in a growing health and fitness market, it is expanding its brand to offer a wider range of local, affordable activities and services. One of these, Tameside Sky High, is a year-round activity centre that offers rock climbing, high ropes, caving/bouldering and soft play. Total Adrenaline is another new development and includes a large trampoline area, a LaserQuest-style play centre and a soft play area. Other developments include a new bowling facility and a 24 hour gym.
The Panel heard that one of the most successful programmes run by Active Tameside is Live Active – a service aimed at improving both the physical and mental health and wellbeing of residents, in particular those with longer term health conditions. The programme uses an evidence-based approach and collects a range of health data from participants to create personalised health goals and more accurately monitor progress.
Members were informed that partnership work has been established with the University of Salford to improve the effective use of the health data collected through Live Active. The findings from this work have led to Live Active participants being required to have their data collected at 12 weeks through their programme on top of the existing collection points. This is because the joint research undertaken found that people most commonly lose focus and adherence to fitness or dietary programmes at 12 weeks.
Ms Sims made the Panel aware that Live Active has yielded a number of positive outcomes including exceeding its participation target in its first year, and that it is on target to engage over 1000 people in its second. The programme also surpassed its 75% targets in the total number of participants achieving their health-related goals (88%) and the number of participants reporting an improved quality of life (87%).
On top of this, Live Active has also been found to have made positive improvements to the mental health of participants, with a number of people achieving clinically relevant improvements in this area. It is acknowledged that both positive physical and mental health is central to improving a person’s quality of life.
The Panel asked how Active Tameside is ensuring that its current and future developments are targeting support to the areas of greatest deprivation and/or with the greatest health inequalities.
Ms Sims advised the Panel that Active Tameside works with the Council to map out the areas of highest deprivation and/or with the most health inequalities, as well as the proximity to other services to determine the most suitable areas for different developments.
The Panel asked what relationship Active Tameside has established with local healthcare providers.
Ms Sims informed members that Active Tameside is putting a continued focus on strengthening the relationship it has with local GP practices and other healthcare providers. Over the last year a total of 600 referrals have been made to Active Tameside from a variety of health and social care services.
RESOLVED: That Ms Sims and Mr Higgins be thanked for attending the meeting.