Southwark Council’s Integrated Healthy Lifestyle Service

How are the public involved in the evaluation?

Local residents, who were either current or past IHLS service users, joined us for an initial public involvement workshop. They helped us shape the evaluation by commenting on the research questions, research methods and recruitment strategy.  

We established a local public involvement group specific to this evaluation with a mixture of service users and residents. This group met regularly during the active phases of the evaluation. Members reviewed findings throughout the evaluation and provided valuable context such as on self-referrals. They prioritised findings based on their importance to the local community. They helped our team use the appropriate language and terminology. They have also helped share the results of the evaluation.

Lay summary of research

What is the Integrated Healthy Lifestyle Service?  

The Integrated Healthy Lifestyle Service (IHLS) is an initiative to help people in the London Borough of Southwark be more physically active and manage their weight. The current evaluation focused on three parts of the IHLS:    

• Healthy Lifestyle Hub (HLH): a phone and texting service that refers people to a service that is right for them 

• Alive’n’Kicking (AnK): a 12-week programme for children aged 4-17 and their families which focuses on healthy eating and being physically active   

• Exercise on Referral (EoR): a structured exercise programme for adults that offers different levels of exercise support    

People can self-refer onto one of these programmes or be referred by a GP or social prescriber. The aim of IHLS is to make it easier for people to access the right service in the right way. It provides residents with tailored support and follow-up throughout their journey through text messages and phone calls.  

What were the aims and objectives of the evaluation?

At the beginning of the evaluation, we conducted an evaluability assessment with local stakeholders. This involved a series of workshops to clarify the goals of the IHLS and the aims of the current evaluation. Full details can be found in the evaluability assessment report at the top of the page.

This identified 2 main objectives for the evaluation:

1. Understand whether having a single-point-of-access "Hub" makes it easier for Southwark residents to access "Alive and Kicking" and "Exercise on Referral" programmes.

• Does the Hub increase the number of people joining and finishing the programmes?  
• How have referrals to the programmes changed over time?
• Are people who need the programmes most able to access them?  
• Are certain groups of people benefiting more from the programmes than others?  
• What do staff think about referring people and running the programmes?  

2.  Understand whether referral from the "Hub" to "Alive and Kicking" and "Exercise on Referral" improves people's health and /or encourages behaviours that might improve their health.

• Why do some people not join the programmes after being referred?  
• What do people think about the programmes? Do they like or dislike them? 
• Do people feel healthier, more connected, or change their habits after completing the programmes?  
• What services or support do people use after finishing the programmes?

 How did we answer these questions?  

There were three different parts of our evaluation to answer these questions, termed Work Package 1 to 3.  

Work Package 1  

We analysed data that has already been collected. The data included things like the number of people who have been referred to programmes, the number of people who have started and completed the programmes and any changes to people’s health. All data was anonymous.  

Work Package 2  

We distributed an online survey to try and reach people who have been referred to one of the IHLS programmes.

Work Package 3  

We ran focus groups and interviews with people who were using the programmes or had recently completed the programmes. We also ran focus groups with staff. These sessions helped us understand more about the referral process and any possible changes to people's health or behaviours since starting one of the programmes.  

What happens with the results of the evaluation?  

The evaluation report which includes all the findings and recommendations can be found at the top of this page. There is also an infographic which illustrates the main findings and recommendations. These can be freely accessed.

Southwark Council will use the results to understand the current impact of the IHLS, such as how acceptable people find the programmes, how easy they are to take part in and if they help people change their behaviours and attitudes to health. It will inform decisions about future improvements and the running of the IHLS.