Agenda item

Overview of Live Well service as requested by the Board.

6.         LIVE WELL LEICESTER - OVERVIEW

Harpreet Sohal (Healthy Lifestyle Service Manager, Public Health, LCC) and Carla Broadbent (Live Well Operations Manager, Public Health, LCC) presented an overview of the service.

It was noted that:

•           The in-house service is a team of 23 advisors who can help clients get the right support to help lead a healthier lifestyle. This includes eating healthier, stopping smoking, doing more exercise and drinking less alcohol.

•           The service is for Leicester residents only (and over the age of 12).

•           Adaptations were made so that no part of the service had to cease during the Covid pandemic – and Ms Sohal extended thanks to the team for their flexibility. The service was fully face-to-face prior to March 2020 – but is now a blend of online and in-person sessions to give client choice.

•           The physical activity offer is a free 12 week programme delivered from Leisure Centres (this also includes nutrition advice).

•           There is also a free falls prevention programme (24 weeks – targeted at those over 65 or clients concerned about falling).

•           There is also a walks programme. Clients are encouraged to volunteer (and are trained up to be walk leaders themselves).

•           The alcohol support aspect is by referral to Turning Point.

•           Live Well signposts to other service that can assist with debt, housing and social isolation.

•           The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were monitored in 2022/23 – and it was found that 80% of referrals were from those living in the two highest deprivation quintiles.

•           Another KPI was for 40% of the clients to be male – and this was over-achieved at 43% in 2022/3.

•           46% of new client registrations were from BAME communities – but the presenting officers noted the Boards earlier comments (in Item 6) about Eastern European communities in the City. Ms Sohal promised that the team will do more targeting with this community in future.

•           Plans have been drawn up as to how to spend the extra government funding for smoking cession; the paper will be going to Cllr Russell’s Lead Member Briefing on 18.3.24.

•           A new case management system will be launching on 11.3.24 – and presenting officers can return to discuss this with the Board in future.

•           An evaluation of the service has been conducted; the report can be shared with the Board at a future meeting.

•           Members were requested to buy-in to the service, encourage referrals and assist in embedding into the voluntary sector. Contact details for further questions are in the slides.

Comments and questions from the Board:-

-           The Chair asked that the data around deprivation quintiles be drilled down further (as 72% of City residents are in quintiles 1 and 2). She would like to see details on who refers into the programme, who accesses the offer and who completes full packages (ie retention rates).

-           The Member representing the Sports Alliance asked whether 7591 people accessing the service in one year is a good total. He also wondered whether a branded service is the best fit – and whether it would benefit from being connected to the GP service. Cllr Russell noted that many people do not access their GP until they are very poorly – so the self-referral aspect of Live Well is important.

-           The Chair felt that the Board would find a key measure of success to be the numbers of clients retaining healthy changes 12 months after contact with Live Well. Jo Atkinson responded that longer term outcomes are measured by taking a baseline measurement and then re-measuring at 4 weeks, 12 weeks and 12 months. This data will be collected by the new case management system and incorporated into the upcoming Evaluation Report.

-           Jo Atkinson noted that Public Health offer some population level interventions (eg Beat The Street), but this needs to be balanced against targeted interventions (eg for the inactive or smokers) and school based prevention.  Delivery at a larger scale would require more infrastructure and financial resource. With the current resources, the team are at their limits for the physical activity 12 week programme, but there is no waiting list currently for smoking cessation.

-           Dr Prasad felt that the Board should have faith in the fact that outcomes from the service will be seen 10 or 20 years down the line – and approved of the fact that there are self-referral and digital access aspects to the service. He felt that clients may resist when told not to do something – but self-referral can offset this. He asked whether there was sufficient money in the budget to advertise more widely (eg on busses). Jo Atkinson responded that the self-referral aspect has not been widely promoted due to the capacity of the team (although the additional government funding for smoking cessation means that arm of the offer will now be promoted widely).

-           Dr Prasad asked whether future reporting can incorporate modelling data on how much money is saved in the future by preventative services. The Chair noted that the usual figure quoted for prevention is “£3 saved for every £1 spent”.

-           The Chair noted that lifestyle offers present a challenge around whether they are targeted correctly, whether we are doing enough and whether we are collectively helping to reach clients and support them to access what is on offer.

            RESOLVED:

1.         That the Board thanked Officers for the report - and asked that comments from the Board be taken into account.

2.         That Live Well will undertake more targeting with the Eastern European Communities in Leicester in future.

3.         That Live Well will drill down into the data, providing the details that the Chair requested (see above) in future reporting to the Board.

4.         That Members will feedback to partners about the service.