NHS Dorset CCG ran a highly successful Pedometer Challenge this summer, with the aim of promoting healthier lifestyles and getting people moving more during the working day.
The CCG employs approximately 300 people across sites in Poole and Dorchester, and engaged staff with a “Beat the Directors” Challenge. All Directors, including the Chief Officer Tim Goodson, took part and achieved an impressive joint total of over 486,000 steps! The rest of the organisation was then challenged to set up teams to beat the Directors’ total score.
The CCG linked with a number of organisations, including BH Live, to provide free activity sessions for employees during the challenge month to up the ante.
Sessions included everything from public health sessions on reducing sugar intake and increasing activity levels, to more physically active sessions such as Nordic Walking, early morning Wake and Shake Sessions, lunchtime walks and after work runs.
In addition, BH Live Active team, thanks to support from, Make Your Move, Great Run Local and Bournemouth Borough Council, facilitated weekly runs, jogs and walk around parkland close to the CCG offices to encourage as many people as possible to participate.
Over the course of the challenge the team captains logged their weekly steps with the Workforce Team and running totals were displayed on a leader board at each site. Team captains also received weekly motivational emails with tips on how to up their team step count, and reminders of activities arranged for the week ahead.
The staff engaged enthusiastically with the challenge from start to finish, and alongside those taking part in the challenge itself, a key outcome was the team spirit and friendly rivalry amongst colleagues and teams, and the banter and conversation created at all levels of the organisation. The challenge culminated in a live “step off” at a staff event at the end of June.
Colette Kiernander, Divisional General Manager for BH Live said,
“It was great to be involved in this challenge with Dorset CCG to encourage more people to get more active. This is a great example of how we work alongside organisations to create activities that can improve employee health and wellbeing. We hope that now the participants have got into the habit of exploring and being more active in the great outdoors they keep it up and continue to reap the benefits.”
Following the challenge a staff survey collected feedback on the activities available during the challenge, and this has proved invaluable in helping to inform a longer term sustainable health and wellbeing plan.
Contacts made during the process also mean that local exercise and wellbeing activities are being promoted at each site, and a number of staff have said that they had continued to take part in more physical activity. Some examples include a team who have set up an after work running group; a revived interest in a lunchtime walking group; and feedback that some staff have attended external sessions run by providers they met during the challenge.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
For more information about BH Live please contact:
Elizabeth Symmons, PR & Corporate Communications Executive
E: press.office@bhlive.org.uk
T: (01202) 055562
About BH Live
BH Live is the South Coast’s leading operator of leisure and event venues; a social enterprise that designs and builds engaging experiences to inspire people and enrich lives.
With more than three million visits a year and over £36.5 million turnover, the organisation is changing lives – placing it at the heart of the UK’s growing social economy. In 2015/16 BH Live hosted more than 500 events, sold over half a million cultural, sporting and entertainment tickets. They welcomed 2.4 million active participants into its leisure centres and 118,000 conference and exhibition delegates into its venues. This contributed an estimated £66.3 million to the local economy through business and cultural tourism. For more visit bhlive.org.uk
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