As part of the Government’s Healthy Ageing Challenge, ukactive is part of a consortium that is delivering an innovative industrial research project to support the NHS help people as they age. It aims to transform gyms and pools into community musculoskeletal hubs (i.e. rehabilitation for knee, hip and back). It also aims is to reduce health inequalities and the burden on the NHS by providing local, supported, self-management options for people to better maintain mobility, physical function and reduce pain through activity delivered closer to their home.
The consortium is made up of ukactive, Good Boost, Escape Pain and Action Arthritis, each of whom are providing their services as part of the MSK Hubs. This involves delivery of Good Boosts land and aqua package, Escape Pain’s six-week programme, Action Arthritis guidance and coffee mornings and ukactive’s The Active Standard. A key part of the delivery of this Hub is to understand is feasibility to be implemented in a leisure centre setting, and thus an in-depth evaluation is being conducted by the ukactive Research Institute.
This evaluation involves who takes part in the programme, what they take part in during it, changes in health outcomes, and what other sustained activity they undertake within the leisure facilities but beyond the programme. It will also look to understand the effectiveness of referral pathways from clinical settings to a leisure facility and a business case evaluation for the MSK Hubs model.
This project is made up of two phases. Phase one is completed, where delivery began in 15 gyms. Phase 2 began in March 2023, where delivery was expanded to an additional 85 guys, pools and leisure centres. The evaluation is currently underway and will be completed at project close, which is in April 2024.