Brio Leisure uses data to demonstrate the success of its health and wellbeing programmes

by Admin on June 15, 2017

Community Interest Company (CIC), Brio Leisure has demonstrated the success of its Exercise on Referral (EOR) Smoking Cessation and Weight Management programmes with an impressive set of annual statistics.

Over the last financial year, uptake rates are over 80% for both EOR and Weight Management programmes. During this time nearly 5,000 referrals were received, with over 2,000 patients referred to EOR programmes and nearly 2,000 to Weight Management. 

The Cheshire-based CIC’s questionnaire scores reinforce this success.  Data taken from its Wellness Assessments shows an improvement in the average SWEMWBS score from 24.72 to 29.6 out of a maximum score of thirty-five. The WEMWBS (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale) was developed to measure and monitor mental wellbeing in the population and to evaluate projects which aim to improve mental wellbeing.  Brio Leisure uses the widely recognised Shortened version (SWEMWBS) which includes seven questions.

Elly McFahn, Managing Director at Brio Leisure, commented: “As a CIC and a social enterprise, our purpose is to use our assets and profits to benefit our community. We were tasked by Cheshire West and Cheshire Council (CWAC), as part of our Integrated Wellness contract, to provide programmes to tackle healthy living including; weight management and smoking cessation, as well as health related concerns such as diabetes, poor mental health and osteoporosis.  Using ReferAll’s reporting tools, we can clearly demonstrate to our commissioners that we are encouraging a higher referral uptake and significantly improving not only the physical health but also having a positive impact on the mental wellbeing of our customers.

“Customers complete questionnaires using ReferAll before they commence the twelve-week EOR programme and this helps us to build a profile of both their physical and mental wellbeing.  Feeding this data back to our commissioners builds up a clearer picture of the health issues affecting residents of Cheshire West and Chester. These programmes not only influence the customer participating but also their families.  If we can encourage this ‘household’ learning then we have a real chance to inspire healthy eating patterns amongst children as well as parents.  This gives us the opportunity to reduce lifestyle diseases including type 2 diabetes in the future.  By working closely with our customers  and families, our services provide education around healthy eating and exercise, by encouraging simple and achievable changes. Our aim is to reduce preventable illnesses and therefore local authority spending in the future.”

ReferAll helps us to collate these results to show the real importance of the work Brio Leisure has put in since it began working with public health teams in April 2015.  Prior to introducing ReferAll in April 2016, Brio Leisure used a predominately paper referral system with a secure process for emailed referrals. The business wanted to find a system that could help to improve efficiencies around reporting, making it much simpler for GPs to refer patients over promptly following appointments to us, and enabling them to check progress during the period of the intervention in the event the patient made further visits to their GP.

In April 2015, Brio commenced delivery of the Integrated Wellness contract to provide a new health and wellbeing service to Cheshire West and Chester residents. The service known as Cheshire Change Hub, supports those needing help with different medical conditions, including mental health issues, and offers support through tailored exercise and fitness programmes to make changes towards a happier, healthier you.

“We knew we needed to use a bespoke computerised system to fulfil our contract with CWAC, and bring that extra added value of report analysis in a wider range of areas.  ReferAll provided everything we needed to monitor our customer’s journey with us and report back on our progress and achievements in the community.

“The reporting features on ReferAll are crucial to ensure we report efficiently and effectively to our commissioners.  We provide programmes across a number of our Brio centres including Northgate Arena in Chester, Ellesmere Port Sports Village, Winsford Lifestyle Centre, Frodsham Leisure Centre and Northwich Memorial Court. It simply wouldn’t be possible to collate the quantity of data from the number of referrals we now receive or to produce the quality of statistics on a regular basis using our previous system.”

Brio Leisure encourages the whole community to be more physically and socially active by providing health and fitness opportunities in an environment that is welcoming to everyone. It offers a personalised service with a high level of professionalism, to suit the needs of the local community and the individual.

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