Meet & Move: Boosting Physical Health and Wellbeing for Over 65s

Meet and Move began as a pilot project with just 5 members in one weekly group.

Fast-forward nearly four years, and more than 240 patients have come through the programme. Seventy long-term members attend regular sessions in four locations. We even have a few members competing to reach 100 sessions first!

Meet & Move is about taking a new, positive approach to older people’s health, boosting physical resilience and promoting emotional wellbeing.

Before discussing the programme’s details and development, let’s talk about how and why it came about.

PCNs and Preventative Health

PCNs – Primary Care Networks, to give them their full name, were introduced into the NHS in 2019.

The new networks would allow groups of neighbouring GP practices to work together and provide new and additional services that patients in their areas needed.

There were broad aims – personalised and preventative health care that tackled inequalities and raised standards for all –. Still, within that, networks had the scope to build the services that would benefit patients most.

Meet and Move is an example of a preventative health programme. It doesn’t treat people who are unwell. Instead, it helps to improve their physical and mental wellbeing so they can live longer, healthier lives.

Frailty and Isolation

When PCNs launched, about 1 in 5 of the population was aged over 60, or more than 12 million people.

It was thought that around 1.8 million were living with frailty.

Frailty is when your body gradually loses its in-built reserves. You lose resilience. It makes it easier to get ill and tougher to recover.

People can do less and less, which increases the likelihood of falls, social isolation, and worsening overall health. As a result, people end up relying on health and social care services to look after them.

While frailty is associated with ageing, it’s not inevitable. With the right interventions, it can be slowed or even reversed.

Developing Meet & Move

Meet & Move was created by Rachel Cowey, a Physiotherapist working with our GP practices in Jesmond and Lower Gosforth.

Rachel’s idea was for a structured exercise class for older people at risk of frailty.

People gradually build their fitness, balance and strength through safe, guided physical activity.

Improved resilience and mobility give people extra protection against falls, worsening health or isolation.

The social element of the classes helps people form new friendships and further builds their confidence in getting out and talking about more.

Meet & Move classes are being run by James Kent, a specialist Health and Wellbeing Coach, while Rachel is on maternity leave.

Who is it for?

The programme is designed for people aged 65 and up who may have a history of falls, poor balance, or can’t do much physical activity.

Many of the first participants were already in touch with our Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLWs) team.

Our SPLWs closely with Rachel and James to run the classes and chat with people about whether Meet & Move could help them achieve their goals.

The classes must be safe for everyone, so some necessary exclusions exist. For example, patients with uncontrolled heart or lung disease, impaired cognition or severe mental health problems aren’t eligible to take part.

How it works

Each session begins with 45 minutes of structured exercise. Rachel and the team lead participants through activities to build their balance, strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination.

There are also educational elements, including discussing the importance of exercise, nutrition, hydration, and mindfulness.

The second part is a well-deserved tea and coffee session where people can chat, get to know each other and build relationships. It’s also a chance for Social Prescribers to check in with people and talk about their progress.

A standard course is 10 free sessions for patients registered with GP practices in Gosforth and Jesmond. It gives people a physical and emotional boost to keep themselves well.

Of course, many people enjoy the sessions so much that they stay on as community members, paying a small weekly fee of £5.

Meet & Move has around 70 long-term members, some of whom are veterans of nearly 40 sessions!

How it helps

The team have a couple of widely used tests to measure people’s progress.

One is the ‘time up and go’ score, which looks at someone’s mobility and balance. Patients are timed to see how long it takes them to stand up from a chair, walk 3 metres, turn around, and return to their seats.

Repeating the test regularly gives the team an indicator of progress.

Across a 10-session course, the average score improves by 12%.

The second test is the’ 30-second chair stand.’ It measures how many times someone can go from fully sitting in a chair to standing upright and back again in half a minute.

The average increase for patients who complete the 10-session course is 42%. These positive outcomes, plus the group’s growth and the number of long-term members, show the benefit to overall physical and emotional wellbeing.

What people say

Here’s just a selection of the feedback we’ve received from Meet & Move participants

“I lost my wife in November, and this is something entirely different from my wife, I look forward to it. If I’m feeling a bit low, as soon as I get here, my mood lifts and I find that the exercises and meeting new people is very good for me.”

“This class is the highpoint of my week. I love it! I love that someone cares. Thank you!”

“This is such a rewarding hour: exercise, good positive encouragement. Happy, social coffee with convivial conversation with members of the group.”

What’s next?

Meet & Move has grown quickly, proving how effective and fun the sessions are.

Rachel and the team have more plans, with a target of 100 regular members and classes in eight locations across Gosforth and Jesmond.

If you or someone you know would be interested in joining a class or discovering more, why not get in touch? You can ask any staff member at your GP practice to refer you to the Network Social Prescribing Team, and they will take it from there.