28 Apr 2020 A Spotlight On…Case Studies from the Food Active Network: Lancashire
Find out about some of the fantastic work going on across the Food Active local authority network members through our ‘Spotlight On’ case studies feature!
The Food Active North West Network is made up of 16 local authorities across the region, working hard to promote healthy lifestyles and create a health-promoting environment for their local residents – and we want to highlight some of this fantastic work to our wider national following.
As part of a new ‘Spotlight On’ series, every month we will be sharing a range of case studies to highlight some of the fantastic work going on across the network.
This month, we have a fantastic case study from Lancashire County Council looking at a cycling initiative for NHS workers.
A Spotlight on…Lancashire County Council
These case studies have been written by Russell Watson, Public Health Practitioner and Amanda Downes, Partnership Development Officer from Lancashire County Council.
E: russell.walton@lancashire.gov.uk / amanda.downes@lancashire.gov.uk
The Positive Impact of Cycling: An NHS Staff Case Study
This pilot between Love to Ride (LtR) (an online platform encouraging more people to cycle), Connecting East Lancashire, (a DfT funded project promoting and enabling active travel), Lancashire County Council (Local Authority) and East Lancashire Hospital Trust (Blackburn and Burnley Hospitals) is aimed at raising the profile of cycling to over 7,000 East Lancashire Health Trust staff.
A survey carried out at Blackburn Hospital identified that 33% of staff live within 5 miles of their workplace. By targeting behaviour change the pilot will address barriers to change including time, motivation, access to facilities and skills. Success will be measured by increased physical activity, improved overall health and wellbeing and increased job satisfaction.
Motivation and fun are critical to the success of the pilot and regular evaluation by LtR will demonstrate if it has been a positive experience for mental and physical health. LtR provide a breakdown of how participant evaluation has benefited them i.e. calories burnt, distance cycled and CO2 saved. If participants get on bikes initially for fun and health benefits, a bonus will be an increase in commuter journeys.
Initially, the pilot introduces cycling for fun and fitness and access to local networks with the long term aim of demonstrating alternative routes to work. Early intervention engagement was achieved through focus groups, road shows, cycle breakfasts and organisation wide emails and intranet postings. A variety of behavioural change techniques were used encouraging everyone to ‘have a go’, including nominating a change champion, provision of led rides, try a bike, bike maintenance and adult cycle lessons.
To find out more, please check out the website here.
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