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Chelmsford City Council’s Active Health Scheme

Chelmsford City Council’s Active Health Scheme

Expected completion January 2027

At a glance

Active Health is a 12 week, subsidised physical activity referral scheme delivered by Chelmsford City Council. Individuals are referred onto the scheme by healthcare professionals and receive 50% discounted access to leisure facilities for the duration of the 12 week scheme. Users attend supervised sessions and can access specialist instructors where needed.

This evaluation will assess whether Active Health improves participants’ physical activity, health (e.g., blood pressure), and overall wellbeing, and whether referral pathways are appropriate and efficient.

The evaluation will combine analysis of existing scheme data, follow-up health measures with past participants, and interviews/focus groups with current users, graduates of Active Health, and referring healthcare professionals.

Findings will support Chelmsford City Council and other local authorities to strengthen physical activity referral schemes, improve reach and equity, and maximise public health benefit.

What does the evaluation mean for Local Government?

This evaluation investigates if Active Health is having an impact on the physical activity rates and health and wellbeing of the individuals who are referred onto the scheme. It will examine the Active Health referral pathways to explore whether they are appropriate, effective, and efficient. Findings from this evaluation will support Chelmsford City Council, as well as other Local Governments to improve the equity and reach of their physical activity or exercise referral schemes.

How are the Public involved in the evaluation?

We have set up a Public Steering Group consisting of several local Chelmsford residents. The group includes individuals who are current and past users of the Active Health scheme, and individuals who have not taken part in the scheme or heard of the scheme before this evaluation.

The group has provided feedback on the proposed direction of the evaluation, research questions, and intended methods. They have advised on suitable data collection sites around the local area and given feedback on recruitment materials to ensure they are appropriate and easy to understand.

The Public Steering Group will meet several times over the course of the evaluation. These will be scheduled at key points to allow members to provide local context and suggestions at each milestone during the project.

Evaluation Details

What is Active Health?

Active Health is a subsidised physical activity referral scheme delivered by Chelmsford City Council. Individuals can be referred onto Active Health by a healthcare professional (such as a GP, or physiotherapist). Once referred, individuals are offered a 50% discounted rate for Chelmsford gym facilities. Running for 12 weeks, the scheme aims to support people to manage chronic ill-health, support rehabilitation and generally increase their physical activity. Upon referral, individuals are offered three supervised sessions each lasting one hour: an assessment, induction to the gym and leisure centre facilities, and a follow-up session. If applicable, individuals are assigned a fitness instructor with specialist training in their health condition(s), for example: cancer rehabilitation, obesity, diabetes, or neurological conditions. After 12 weeks individuals ‘graduate’ from the Active Health scheme and are then eligible for a 15% discount on leisure centre membership.

Why is an Evaluation Necessary?

Year-on-year referrals onto Active Health have increased substantially, from 300 referrals in 2022/2023, to 570 referrals in 2024/2025. With a larger number of individuals participating in the scheme, it is important to investigate if the referral pathways are appropriate and efficient. Collating experiences from service users and healthcare professionals who make referrals to the scheme will provide evidence for Chelmsford City Council to decide how to run the scheme in the future.

 What are the Main Evaluation Questions? 

The overarching aim of the evaluation is to understand how the Active Health scheme impacts the health and wellbeing of the people who take part.

The specific research questions are:

• How does the Active Health scheme impact participants’ physical activity?

• How does Active Health impact participants’ physical health?

• What are the wider effects of the scheme on health and wellbeing?

• What do healthcare professionals think about the scheme and the referral pathways?

How will we Answer these Questions?

1) Explore existing data.

We will look at data which is routinely collected by the Active Health scheme, e.g. through the fitness app, and the booking portal. This will help us to understand how much physical activity people are doing and the people that are participating in the scheme.

2) Follow-up with Active Health graduates.

People who completed Active Health more than 6 months previously will be invited for a follow up health check taking measures such as blood pressure. They will also be asked about their levels of physical activity. This will help us understand longer term changes to their health and wellbeing.

3) Focus groups and interviews.

Focus groups and interviews will be conducted with Active Health users (current and graduates) and healthcare professionals who refer individuals onto the Active Health scheme. We will ask these groups to share their experiences of the scheme and the referral process.

What happens with the results of the evaluation? 

The evaluation findings will provide information on how the Active Health scheme is currently performing. Reports will be shared with Chelmsford City Council so they can make evidence-based decisions on how to run the scheme in the future.

Our PHIRST Elevate team will share and promote the results with relevant groups and networks. Our aim is to mobilise the knowledge from this project so that it may be used to inform other similar schemes.