Whether you’re a small independent health club, a large multi-site leisure trust or something in between, data is set to become your most prolific – and valuable – output.
Think about the data your sites output daily, from your leisure management system to online bookings and access control; it’s a deluge. But what about your health and wellbeing services, your weight management programmes, your exercise on referral schemes? Too many health improvement activities, the ones we know are making a difference to that 65% of the population who ‘don’t do’ physical activity, are not collecting simple demographic data or using data to showcase a positive impact.
What do I mean by data? It's essentially information. This can range from the number of people attending a class (and it's even better if you have their postcodes) to regular weight or body fat percentage checks, to responses from questionnaires about behaviour change or wellbeing.
If you’re new to the data game, the instinct can be to start by looking at what your club or centres already gather – which is completely understandable. But why not try a different approach? Begin by asking: 'what do we want to find out?' and ‘what do we want to prove?’ and then look at your current data collection, analyse what you are collecting and assess any gaps. Our team can help with this process
In order to give health schemes credibility, to get the NHS and healthcare providers to sit up and take notice of your successes, everything needs to be backed up by solid data. Stakeholders and funders also want numbers, proof of positive change caused by leisure’s interventions.
Collecting tangible data will support the efficacy of your interventions and allow you to provide evidence-based findings. Good data can help our sector align with healthcare and holds the key to unlocking best practice and driving continuous improvement. It provides guiding evidence for the improvement of physical-activity-related social prescribing pathways and, ultimately, allows us to increase the efficacy of services. I genuinely believe its data that will change the way exercise, medicine and healthcare interact. What could be more important than that?
Checkout my Leading Change short video series which guides you through the evolving world of health referrals, blending expertise and innovation to help you enhance your health and wellbeing offering.
Until next time,
Stu
Stuart Stokes | Founder and Managing Director
P.S. Please don't hesitate to reach out and start a conversation: 📲 
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