Active Blackpool Case Study

The challenge

Part of Blackpool Council, Active Blackpool runs three leisure centres and one leisure village on behalf of the Council, with the goal of getting more of the community to be more active, more often.

Active Communities Development Officer Neil Pimlott manages Active Blackpool’s exercise referral schemes, which include Escape Pain, Good Boost, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Parkinson’s Boxing and Water Wellbeing. “We offer several pathways to help introduce physical activity into the lives of people who have long-term health conditions or are at risk of developing them,” says Pimlott. “They all come under one scheme and include a free welcome session, then 16 weeks of Exercise Referral at a reduced rate. We get on average 125 referrals a month.”

Building Future-Ready Pathways with ReferAll

Pimlott is using ReferAll’s software to help manage and administer all Active Blackpool’s exercise referral schemes and says it is helping to provide solid proof that the system works and is improving people’s lives and health. “We have an online referral form, which can be used either by our referrers within the health service or for self-referral, and from there on the process is seamlessly automated,” says Pimlott. “ReferAll’s integration with Gladstone has been a huge time saver for us – patients are processed at the click of a button.

“We use the MyReferAll system to send out our timetable for welcome meetings and for booking reviews. Everyone automatically gets a text and an email to create an account and book their kick-off meeting. This portal has made a massive difference – around 60% of our referrals now book using MyReferAll.

“Having a system that’s recordable, logical to use and everyone can access has helped immeasurably. It’s great to have everything in one place. We create summaries of each referrals’ goals and aspirations, and these are stored on ReferAll for reviews at four, eight and 16 weeks. The system automatically texts patients about these reviews, which takes the onus off staff to remember to activate those touch points manually. We also get an alert when the person has responded and booked an activity such as a review, direct to the staff member who has been assigned to them, which is so helpful.”

As well as helping ensure the team don’t miss vital check-ins during the 16-week scheme, Pimlott is looking forward to being able to collate completion data, to see how successful each cohort is. “The biometric data we collect at reviews – such as cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, metabolism and strength – helps us calculate to a biometric age for each referral,” he says. “As we go forwards, using ReferAll will help me to paint a picture of how our referrals health status changes from week one to 16. I’m hoping we’ll see reduction in biological age based on those four categories.

Expanding our pathways

“We are looking to expand our offer with pathways focussed on obesity and diabetes, as well as cancer rehab and pre-hab; ReferAll will be invaluable as we develop and add to our Scheme. ReferAll is one of the few providers that integrates with other APIs, and I hope they’ll continue to expand on these integrations as it would mean we could fully automate our 16-week journey.”

“As we go forwards, using ReferAll will help me to paint a picture of how our referrals health status changes from week one to 16. I’m hoping we’ll see reduction in biological age based on those four categories”