Supporting Good Health and Wellbeing

By instilling physical activity and an understanding of healthy habits throughout our programme delivery, we aim to support good health and wellbeing across our full range of projects.

DCCT Anuual Report 2022

Supporting good health and wellbeing remains our foremost priority across many of our programmes. Our delivery across the board is unified by our four key outcomes, where participants’ health and wellbeing is integral to each and every project we run.

This year, we saw a return to a full programme of delivery following various challenges posed by the pandemic across 2020 and 2021. This meant that our traditional coaching programmes, including Holiday Coaching, Weekend Club and our Talent Identification Programmes (TIPs) were able to resume in full following adapted delivery throughout the previous two years. Our coaching programme did receive another major setback as the closure of our local footballing facility in the spring meant we had to adapt and move existing sessions. This has impacted the way we deliver, and we have taken the opportunity to focus on delivering with partner schools. Projects delivered by our Community Coaching strand of our Schools and Coaching department work with primaryaged children to instil a love of physical activity from a young age. We ensure our programmes are suitable for all abilities to foster enjoyment and encourage participation regardless of skill level. Where appropriate, children who participate in our open access projects are invited to trial for our Talent Identification Programme, which supported almost 200 young players this year. We continue to work with the Derby County Academy to provide the best possible opportunities for our players, and saw one of our TIPs players join their set up this year. Within schools, our ever-popular after school clubs continue to engage children in physical activity, delivered across various sports to provide something for everyone. We also support participants and their families through our Live IT programme, which received significant additional investment this year in response to the highest ever increase of childhood obesity level from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021 – with obesity prevalence among children living in the most deprived areas being more than double that of those living in the least deprived areas (NHS Digital). The expansion of the project means we now work with 300 individuals and their families to support wellbeing, encourage healthy habits and most importantly, reduce risk of long-term ill health. Our commitment to reducing heath inequalities continues into our adult delivery. Our Health and Wellbeing project, delivered through the Derby North Primary Care Network, consisting of six local GP Surgeries, has been extended to the south of the city, where another nine surgeries joined the programme. Successes of the project have seen participants no longer be at risk of Type 2 diabetes, reduce their weight and become able to participate in adapted exercise whilst living with long-term conditions. We are currently supporting 123 individuals through this programme, in addition to a further 36 males in the county through our Active Supporters project. We have seen similar results achieved on our EFL Fit Fans programmes, with participants reporting increased selfesteem and a new found understanding of healthy lifestyles on the 12-week programme which runs three times each year. As a result of successful work across a wide health spectrum, we have also started new projects this year which focus on supporting specific conditions. One of these key delivery areas is our new Cardiac Rehab programme, which in its infancy has begun to support 20 individuals in recovery from a cardiac event. Another key area identified for health intervention this year has been the menopause, with a clear gap in existing provision locally. Despite only launching our Menopause Matters programme in November of this year, we’ve already engaged over 100 women, with a further launch date set for the new year. Cancer rehabilitation remains a key area of our health delivery, and this year, along with continuing to support over 200 participants on their recovery journey, we have introduced a pre-habilitation course, to ensure patients are in the best possible fitness state before their treatment begins. By instilling physical activity and an understanding of healthy habits throughout our programme delivery, we aim to support good health and wellbeing across our full range of projects.