ReferAll's relationship with Barnsley Premier Leisure Trust who operate under the Your Space brand began in the winter of 2020, and we know how the story unfolds from there. Fast forward two years and you'll find it fascinating to read what happened next. As a result of our partnership, this extraordinary organisation was able to open new referral pathways for accessibility, deliver on commissioner's best practice requirements and in-turn, helped ReferAll to continue to deliver agile software.
Background
Local community health is important to Your Space. But exactly why is it important? Your Space's Corporate Manager Simon Ferrarelli believes that focusing on community health at the local level is what sets their organisation apart from other leisure trusts.
"The long-term health of local people is a key aim of our local community strategy. Providing access to tailored activities is essential for a happier, healthier, longer life for the people of Barnsley and Bassetlaw. In short, community health matters and is of utmost importance to Your Space," explains Simon.
These are the values that drive the Your Space team, led by Mark Goodhead, Healthy Lifestyle Programme Manager, and Angela Dainty, Community Health Well-Being Manager.
It is fair to say there was a lot of uncertainty for everyone when the Covid-19 pandemic stuck. Between lockdowns, Your space community health teams continued to touch base with existing referrals, and once the way forward became clearer, we worked with Your Space to ensure they were making the best use of our communication solutions. Your Space needed to reach out to people who could benefit from their expert skills - and quickly. Having implemented ReferAll's online webform it soon became a vital component of Your Spaces community health’s comprehensive referral pathway.
Referrals, uptake, and retention
Angela and Mark describe what followed:
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"Our services became a one-stop-shop, 'health for all’ as we like to call it. Before the pandemic, self-referral had not been considered a viable option. In exercise referral schemes, it wasn't the done thing. After the GoLive, our online referrals save directly to our schemes. We've saved hours per week on admin time, and we are back on track to our pre-pandemic figures, which shows the confidence of our customers and patients using our services is back." |
"As a general rule, most people can safely take part in a healthy lifestyle programme for weight management, improving low mood or becoming more active without a healthcare referral, so why add to GP surgery burdens? Removing as many barriers as possible to participation has hugely improved adherence and uptake."
ReferAll's online webform can be set up for both self-referral and referring patients by health professionals - both with scheme-specific forms to collect the required information.
During the rebrand of the Your Space sites, Angela's suggestion to add the online form via a QR code to their leaflets and digital marketing has been well received. During a call with a local Practice Nurse, the QR code was scanned, and patient information was added and submitted. The referral was made within minutes, all before the conversation ended!
The QR Code is included on the back and front of Your Spaces's Community Health Leaflets
Confident Commissioners
In terms of working with programme commissioners, Mark highlights how ReferAll's system security credentials provide the reassurance funders need, instilling confidence that referral information is being well managed.
The Reporting Solution also provides detailed results against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) streamlining the reporting process.
| "Reports that took days, now take minutes" confirmed Mark |
Angela concludes, "Having not been a computer savvy person, I was amazed when I used Reports this not only gives us scheme demographics but also splits referral data by postcode. Before ReferAll, collecting and reporting were very difficult and time-consuming."
Here are just some of the headlines from Your Space Barnsley Exercise Referral Schemes:
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90.0% of Male participants with a waist circumference of 94cm> recorded a shorter Waist Circumference
· The average reduction in male Waist Circumference was 5.0% (5.6cm) 83.3% of participants identified as being hypertensive recorded a reduction in Diastolic Blood Pressure
· The average reduction in Diastolic Blood Pressure was 11.9% (12 mm Hg) 64.7% of participants demonstrated an increased in their Wellbeing Score
· The average increase in Wellbeing Score was 10.2 points |
The information from initial assessments, programme reviews, and session data is all recorded in ReferAll, making reporting the least painful time of the month.
In this blog we've only hinted at the built-in communication tools that assist Your Space to save time, and resources and improve services - automated text SMS, scheme process flows, booking, and attendance calendar features... we’ll let Simon sum it up:
"Your Space's decision to move to ReferAll's software was the beginning of building the long-term evidence for our community health programmes that prove the impact of the great work we do."
P.S. How can ReferAll help you in your role? Book your 
Here’s what Joshua McGill, Community Health Officer at BPL has to say: