Annual Director of Public Health Report 2022-23

This year's report is titled: Ready to get active in Richmond. But where to go, what to do?

This is a non-graphic version of the report. You can also view the original version of the report (pdf, 745 KB). 

Introduction

Shannon Katiyo FFPH, Director of Public Health:

"Due to the recent pandemic, there was an increase in physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour with greater levels of isolation and loneliness^1,2,3. This report looks at how Public Health worked with the Council’s Voluntary Sector and Partnerships Team to improve rates of physical activity for Richmond residents. A grant for community organisations to engage residents to become physically active was established. This is called the Active Richmond Fund.

"For the title of my report, we used a phrase from a statement made by one of our residents who took part in an activity funded through the Active Richmond Fund, who said “Six-seven months ago I’d recovered from a serious illness and was ready to do some regular exercise. But where to go, what to do?"

Councillor Piers Allen, Lead member for Adult Social Care & Health and Public Health:

“Social Prescribing is being rolled out across the country by the NHS in partnership with Councils and health and community partners. This allows medical professionals to signpost patients to amazing services in their community which can help them lead healthier and happier lives.

"The Active Richmond Fund aims to increase our Social Prescribing offering. It’s great to see funding already awarded to some brilliant organisations in Richmond upon Thames who are improving people’s lives, by putting health and wellbeing at the forefront of everything they do. We are keen to see lots of applications so that we can work towards becoming an even healthier borough.”

What is Physical Activity?

Physical Activity is more than exercising.

Physical Activity is any activity which requires body movement. It includes walking, gardening, dancing or using the stairs rather than the lift. We want inactive people to benefit from meeting Chief Medical Officer guidelines (150 minutes a week for moderate physical activity or 75 minutes for vigorous activity for adults)⁴.

“Some Exercise is good, more is better.”⁵

Benefits of Physical Activity

Being physically active is beneficial to health by reducing the risk of:

• All-cause mortality by 30%
• Dementia by up to 30%
• Cardiovascular disease by up to 35%
• Type 2 diabetes by up to 40%
• Colon cancer by 30%
• Breast cancer by 30%
• Depression by up to 30%
• Hip fractures by up to 68%

Physical Activity in Richmond

18.5% of residents in Richmond are currently inactive.⁷

Richmond Inactive Population 2017-2020⁸

• Nov 2017-2018 - 15.6%
• May 2018-2019 - 15.9%
• Nov 2018-2019 - 16.9%
• May 2019-May 2020 - 17.5%
• Nov 2019-2020 - 19.1%
• May 2020-2021 - 20%
• Nov 2020-2021 - 18.5%

Even though Richmond is a physically active borough, there are high levels of physical inactivity, especially amongst people most impacted by health inequalities. Richmond Public Health Team commissioned a targeted men’s (and some women) adult weight management programme, ‘Move it to Lose it’. Whilst the programme was successful, it reached a small proportion of the adult male population who are overweight. Successful outcomes included increased physical activity, increased confidence, and reduction in weight.

Case study

A ‘Move it to Lose it’ 2020 participant said: “I made it to my weight goal! I started at 104.5kg on 26 January and weighed in recently at precisely 90.0kg – a total weight loss of 14.5kg! I appreciate the coaches’ efforts; it was great to get something positive from the second lockdown!

"This is a great initiative, and I hope it continues, as it made a big difference to me and got me to do something about my weight and fitness. To be honest, without it, I am not sure if I would have acted on my own, and given my health at the time, who knows what could have happened.”

Read more about the Move it to Lose it programme. 

The positive outcomes from ‘Move it to Lose It’ highlighted the need for increased access to physical activity interventions across the borough. The Active Richmond Fund is one such programme.

Barriers to Getting Active in Richmond

Public Health worked with Healthwatch Richmond to carry out a local resident survey in 2022 which highlighted reasons for inactivity in Richmond residents.

• Time competing priorities
• Cost of gym membership and exercise classes are unaffordable
• Access and availability of facilities and transport to get there
• Lack of enjoyment
• Not wanting to do it alone
• Fear of injury
• Long term conditions

Taking Action to Increase Physical Activity

The Public Health Team works with other teams across the Council, such as the Culture Team, Planning, health partners and voluntary and community organisations through the Public Health Physical Activity Plan 2021-2031⁹, Richmond Friendly Parks for All, and the Richmond Culture Strategy 2021-31.

Active Richmond Fund

Working with the Voluntary Sector and Partnerships Team, Public Health introduced an innovative way to build the capacity of the voluntary and community sector to promote active and healthy lifestyle for residents. In December 2020, the Active Richmond Fund was launched. The fund is an integral part of the Richmond Culture offer. It supports the commitment to increase physical activity both indoors across sports, arts and leisure, and outdoors such as cycling and greater utilisation of green spaces.

The fund provides small grants to the local voluntary and community sector responding to current and emerging needs, gaps, and opportunities around increasing physical activity in the borough. It is advertised widely with press releases to all voluntary and community organisations.

Active Richmond Fund Achievements

• 90% of projects achieving their target number of beneficiaries
• 34 projects funded to support residents to become physically active
• Health and wellbeing benefits for residents, including social isolation

You can view a full list of Active Richmond Fund projects.

Changing Behaviour – Moving from Less Active to Active

The COM-B behaviour change model identifies three factors that are needed for a person to consider changing their behaviour: capability, opportunity and motivation.¹⁰

Case Stories and Quotes

The case stories illustrate COM-B and how they have changed residents’ behaviour to get physically active.

The Conservation Volunteers’ Green Gym

The Conservation Volunteers’ Green Gym project in West Twickenham gets people active through group-based gardening and environmental conservation. The volunteers feel physically active, have improved their wellbeing, and also feel they have made an impact on local spaces.

“My son has significant learning difficulties and a severe speech impairment, which makes it hard for him to meet people and find activities where he can join in. Richmond Green Gym, of all the activities we have explored, has been uniquely positive and welcoming… Our son has learnt to do many different tasks and been out in the fresh air all day getting exercise and improving the environment - we are very happy for him!”

Active Women and Girls Foundation

Active Women and Girls Foundation Pilates Plus+ Exercise for women over 60.

“Our excellent instructor takes care to assess individual needs/conditions and suggest ways to overcome any problems which may arise due to those.

“Six-seven months ago I’d recovered from a serious illness and was ready to do some regular exercise. But where to go, what to do? Seeing the Pilates Plus poster outside Elleray Hall was a delight; just what I was looking for."

Tag Parkour

TAG Youth Club set up parkour classes in Ham for adults aged 18-30 living with disabilities. They aimed to include all young people, whatever their disability.

Anyone with any form of disability can attend regardless of additional needs. Their Sunday session follows a popular ninja warrior session.

Previously they had a coach that struggled with the needs of adults with learning disabilities. Therefore, they trained an experienced member of the team in house to be a level 1 Parkour coach using the fund. This enabled the person to teach the service users the skills but could tailor their approach to their learning needs.

“I’d just like to thank you for running parkour sessions as part of TAG. My daughter has poor mobility, and it has been exceedingly difficult to find sessions which fit with her additional needs, as she does not enjoy exercise. However, she LOVES parkour, and since attending the weekly sessions we have noticed a real improvement in her confidence in moving her body.”

One of the sessions focuses on competitive games to develop skills to keep service users engaged. An example is that they play dodgeball, but points can only be scored if they are off the floor. These sessions involve less standing around, so the service users become less distracted. The focus on competitive games rather than the outcome of technical skills helps maintain service user attention.

Voices of Hope

Online Active Breathing Course - Voices of Hope set up online active breathing courses for people recovering from Covid-19. The project aimed to restore, improve, and strengthen lung capacity to build resilience.

Case Study 1

The Surplus.2.U project by Richmond Aid is a food stall in Teddington offering advice and information on healthy eating and nutrition. One service user commented that the social interaction they get there motivates them to walk to the location and see people they now consider as friends.

Case Study 2

The Activate Sport and Wellbeing Hub in Teddington encourages residents to be physically active through activities like ‘Soup and Stretch’, a chair-based exercise session for people with limited mobility.

Recommendations

• That the fund will award grants to projects that support residents with healthy eating and nutrition.
• That the fund will accept applications for up to £10,000 on a case-by-case basis.

Report references

1. Sport England, Active Lives Survey – Source: Active Lives - Sport England
2. Sport England, Review of evidence on the outcomes of sport and physical activity. Report for Sport England, 2017
3. Public Health England, Understanding and addressing inequalities in physical activity – Evidence-based guidance for commissioner. Source: Understanding and addressing inequalities in physical activity (publishing.service.gov.uk)
4. UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines, 07/09/2019, Source: UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines (publishing.service.gov.uk)
5. UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines, 07/09/2019, Source: UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines (publishing.service.gov.uk)
6. Ibid. Source: Physical activity: applying All Our Health - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
7. Sport England, Active Lives Survey; November 2020-21. Source: https://sportengland-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2022-04/Active%20Lives%20Adult%20Nov%2020-21%20Tables%201-5%20Levels%20of%20activity.xlsx?VersionId=DisVt9gVMxY4IIsOsZhA6AaGcy2O6dvi
8. Data taken from Sport England, Active Lives Surveys. Source: Active Lives data tables - Sport England
9. Executive Summary of Adult Physical Activity Plan 2021 - 2031. The full plan can be accessed via Richmond Public Health Physical Activity Plan 2021-2031
10. Susan Michie, Maartje M van Stralen, Robert West. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Sci, vol. 6 (1). doi:10.1186/1748-5908-6-42