Anna Lowe, Nigel Harrison, and Chris Dayson: Joining up Sport and Wellbeing

This show is a departure from The CLI’s one-to-one format. Chris is joined by three guests to discuss joining up sport and wellbeing in Sheffield.

Anna Lowe is Programme Manager at the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine and Leader of Move More. Chris Dayson is Associate Professor in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, and leader of the Healthy and Active 100 research theme at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC). Nigel Harrison is Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Sport Foundation.

Move More is the vision of Sheffield as a happier, healthier, and more connected city. It recognises the key role that being more active has to play in that vision. The first Move More strategy was launched in 2015, and the second was launched in June 2021. It’s a whole systems approach to increasing physical activity in Sheffield. The six priority areas are communities, education, health and social care, environment, sport, and active travel.

Anna observes that many of the things that support wellbeing are non-medical; such as relationships, nature, and moving more. The latest Move More strategy targets the areas of the city where the need is greatest, as characterised by geographical location (the most disadvantaged wards), and demographic groups such as age (older people), and sex (women and girls).

The Yorkshire Sport Foundation (YSF) is one of 43 active partnerships across England, primarily funded by Sport England. Their role is one of “connecting, influencing, and, where needs be, providing opportunities to be active.” One of YSF’s managers is part of Anna’s Move More team.

Active Burngreave is an example of a project involving close collaboration between Move More and YSF. The funding for this originated from Comic Relief. The physical activity and sport were designed around how the community operated.

The project employed Safiya Saeed, now a local councillor. She is “the sticky person that everybody goes to in that particular area.” There are now several activity groups: Big Brothers, Reach Up, Sisters. The key, maintains Nigel, is that this is people in Burngreave organising things for themselves through local leadership. The role of Move More and YSF has been to support it in the background through funding, advice, and professional development.

Chris Dayson explains that social prescribing is an opportunity for health practitioners to address a patient’s social and emotional needs by referring them on to activities in their community. Such activities may be social, physical, or a combination of the two. At the heart of the process – and where NHS England are investing a significant amount of money over 10 years – is the link worker.

The link worker keeps abreast of what is happening in the community, and potentially also plays a community development role. They take the referral from the health practitioner, develop an understanding of the patient, and then put in place appropriate support and activities.

Thus, social prescribing is a pathway from the NHS to the community, and it provides just one mechanism through which the Move More strategy might be delivered.

Activities that involve connecting to nature or take place outdoors are sometime referred to as ‘green social prescribing.’ The government has seven test and learn sites for green social prescribing. South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw has one of these test and learn pilots. This is a cross-government initiative including NHS, Department of Health, Defra, along with sector partners such as Sport England and Natural England.

At present we don’t know what proportion of social prescribing involves sports clubs, and in general there is a lack of knowledge about what capacity exists in the community and what can be done to support that capacity. Directories exist, but more important is the link worker’s understanding of the community and what is going on.

Chris is heavily involved in the evaluation of social prescribing. He describes it as “the most evaluated thing of the 21st Century”, however most of the research is localised. NHS England are about to embark on a national study, and Sheffield Hallam, The University of Sheffield, and Exeter University have been commissioned to look at green social prescribing.

How does a sports club become more engaged with Move More and also social prescribing?

Anna acknowledges that Move More is only as strong as its networks, and depends for its success on collaboration across the city. To that end it maintains a website, holds quarterly partnerships meetings, convenes a partnership group, and is active on social media.

Chris suggests that a club might make informal contact with the link worker from the closest Primary Care Network (PCN) and start a conversation. The Social Prescribing Network offers practical support to clubs that put their heads above the parapet, as does the National Academy for Social Prescribing. He suggests that this needs to be a point of focus for the coming years.

What further opportunities do we need to take in order to join up sport and wellbeing in the city?

Anna says implementing the current Move More strategy is key to that. Nigel says that the Move Move ambassadors programme is important; people who champion the cause of physical activity in the community. Additionally, physical activity needs to be integrated into all of the Council’s policies. Chris observes that poverty is one of the greatest barriers to participation and says that alongside the other good work that is being done, the city needs to address this issue.