Sport Aberdeen developed an effective partnership with Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership (ACHSCP) to help people access health and social care services within its venue, Get active @ Northfield.

This was part of an 18-month pilot – named the ‘Community Room Test of Change’ project – which launched in October 2022.

Due to its success, after successful completion of the pilot in March 2024, the project has been approved to continue, on an annual review basis. This is testament to the impact made so far and the number of patients supported.

About the Community Room project

The Community Room project offers health, social care and wellbeing services in a sport and leisure facility (Get active @ Northfield), bringing vital services to the local community.

The purpose was to offer prevention activity (to keep people well), as well as rehabilitation activity (to reduce the impact of disease and injury on individuals).

The programmes and services offered at the community room were suited to the needs of the local population and included pediatric speech and language therapy, community listening, a pop-up vaccination clinic and pulmonary rehabilitation.

Get active @ Northfield is located within the Northfield area of Aberdeen, which is an area of high deprivation as noted by The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). It was important for the project to be trialed in this area to address widening health inequalities for the local community.

The project also focused on meeting local needs and recognising the multiple impacts of long-term ill health on people’s physical health, mental health and social wellbeing.

A further aim of having these services available within Get active @ Northfield was to help break down barriers faced by residents such as travel – so they could walk to the venue – and making the environment feel ‘less clinical’ by nature than a traditional doctor’s surgery.

Patients can self-refer and ask about the services on offer whilst visiting Get active @ Northfield, or they can be referred to the project by a health practitioner. Information is available at the venue through leaflets and posters and members of staff are available to answer questions.

ACHSCP also promotes the project across its teams and departments – local physiotherapists and occupational therapists all know about the room and its uses.  

The diagram below shows all services that have been interlinked with the community room at Get active @ Northfield during the 18-month pilot:

The main benefit to patients who were part of the Community Room project was having teams to work closely with them to map their progress and own individual journeys – and then receiving the correct signposting to future services.

By being part of the project, patients experienced improved self-management of their health condition/illness. They also received additional leaflets and information about other relevant health services.

An individual on the Pulmonary Rehabilitation programme said: “I could hardly walk when I started the class. I now walk one mile every day and can cut my grass.”

Another pilot through the Community Room Project was called ‘Healthier Families’ – part of the Peep Learning Together Programme. This was a 12-week early intervention programme helping families with young children to make healthier food choices and engage in opportunities to get active.

Eight families were supported, each with toddlers aged between 1 and 3 years old.

One parent said: “We had never been to our local pool, now we visit all the time.”

The National Physical Activity Referral Pathway is shown below:

Sport Aberdeen’s Community Room project achieved an outcome set out in Aberdeen City Council’s Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) – to increase pulmonary rehabilitation uptake by 20% in 2023 (specifically designed for individuals living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or other respiratory conditions). This was a huge success indicator for the project.

Another example of the positive impact of the project was feedback from the community listening service. Attendees said they found it easier and more accessible to meet and talk at the community room rather than in a ‘clinical setting’. It has been so successful that the service is looking to be replicated in other areas of deprivation around the city including Tillydrone and Torry Community Hubs.

Get active @ Northfield achieved the Tackling Inequalities in Leisure Standard accreditation in November 2023, with its overall rating marked as gold/excellent. This gives credibility to the venue and demonstrates its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion – a key priority for Sport Aberdeen.

Looking ahead, Sport Aberdeen has been working with NHS Grampian’s Dietetics department, and will deliver a community-based adult weight management intervention called Counterweight, launching in September 2024.

The 12-week programme will consist of physical activity combined with nutritional education and builds on previously piloted work. Counterweight will offer a Tier-2 community based self-management intervention as part of the adult weight management pathway. 

Once people have been through this programme, Sport Aberdeen will encourage them to join its Fitness membership to continue getting active by going to the gym, swimming and attending fitness classes at over 10 venues in Aberdeen.