I read Martyn Allison’s comments on your story ‘Fixing the social care crisis’ (HCM newsfeed, January 09, 2024) with interest. He believes dramatic change is needed to the delivery of adult social care if we are to reduce the burden on the NHS, while freeing up the resources we need to enable physical activity.

I whole-heartedly support his belief that we need to reform the way we approach adult social care and that success lies in place-based collaborative working between organisations across public and private sectors.

Physical activity can play a central role in delivering the solution and in Essex we’ve already evidenced the success a collaborative approach can achieve when it places physical activity at the heart of delivery.

In 2022, Sport For Confidence formed a partnership with Adult Social Care at Essex County Council and Active Essex to deliver a two-year Local Delivery Pilot to evidence the impact of a whole system approach on adult social care and health.

In addition to the stakeholders, we also enrolled the support of partners across adult social care, the NHS, Essex County Council, Provider Quality Innovation Team and care homes.

Evidence from the University of Essex found the positive impact of embedding physical activity into a whole system approach to adult health and social care could deliver £58.72 of social value for every pound invested.

Powerful outcomes
Participants needed less day care, less formal/informal support and GP appointments and they made less 999 calls, and hospital visits, equating to a saving of £365.23 per participant, per year, while also increasing their physical activity levels.

Based on the success of this pilot, the project was awarded funding for 12 months to March 2024. The pilot also prompted Essex County Council to issue a ‘Reconnect – early help and prevention’ tender for the commission of place-based, therapeutic interventions.

These will support adults living with learning needs and/or disabilities and long-term health conditions, to be physically active in their local area. The £1.3 million fund will support a programme for a three-year period with an option to extend by two.

This is a huge step and marks an encouraging and significant step-change in the traditional delivery model, while showcasing the ambition of the council to look for a new solution – plugging into established community-based resources and expertise, providing support to struggling NHS services and delivering positive health outcomes, while also addressing inequalities.

Prevention and integration
In Nottingham, we’re consulting with a collective which includes Nottingham Healthcare NHS Trust (IDD Community MDT Newark and Holly Trinity Lodge Day Centre), YMCA Newark and Boccia England to hardwire physical activity into health and social care.

This programme provides a clear pathway from a health service to a leisure centre which enables participants with intellectual and developmental disability to create, access, participate in and sustain physical activity opportunities.

Participants are directed by the NHS to their nearby YMCA Community and Activity Village, where they can take part in Boccia sessions tailored to their needs on a weekly basis.

These sessions are conducted by the YMCA team and designed in collaboration with the NHS Newark team. Healthcare professionals, such as occupational therapists, speech therapists, and physiotherapists, adapt their clinical expertise to the community and activity-oriented setting.

They closely collaborate with coaches to make personalised adjustments, ensuring that everyone can meaningfully participate.

Sport for Confidence has also recently concluded a similar project in partnership with Golf in Society, showcasing positive evaluation results by utilising a golf club as a health hub for individuals with cognitive decline.

These are examples of how we’re facilitating a whole-system approach.

If physical activity is tailored to achieve specific outcomes, delivered by sports coaches in collaboration with health professionals and hosted in an inclusive, accessible setting it has the power to unlock huge health potential at a fraction of the cost of long-term clinical interventions.

We’re proving this through our model. The evidence exists. We and the wider sector now need to focus on working with health and social care to deliver a system that is not only effective, but also commercially sustainable.

Liz Fletcher
Sport for Confidence