KiActiv® to support the active travel and social prescribing pilot in Bath & North East Somerset
We are pleased to have collaborated with Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) Council and a number of other local stakeholders on a successful bid to be one of the Active Travel & Social Prescribing pilot sites, tasked with improving levels of active travel amongst the local community. The national initiative, backed by £12.7 million of UK government funding, will see primary and community healthcare professionals issuing social prescriptions for walking, cycling and other active travel options, with the goal of improving the physical and mental health of the local population by leveraging the benefits of physical activity. Exploring new ways of incorporating more active travel into our everyday lives is a positive step towards improved population health outcomes and provides a new means of physical activity promotion for healthcare professionals.
We believe this initiative outlines a promising approach towards increasing the amount of people who choose to incorporate active travel into their routine and has the potential to contribute towards a healthier general population. Despite the positive steps being taken with the proposed initiative, well-known barriers to physical activity and active travel still exist, and for many people, it is not always as simple as getting on a bike or buying a pair of walking boots. We also know that whilst active travel is a great means of improving physical activity, this only represents a single component of physical activity behaviour and there are many other opportunities to move more within our everyday lives. So, how can we ensure that the new ‘Active Travel Hub’ is having the desired impact on an individual’s overall level of daily physical activity?
At KiActiv®, our patented technology enables the objective and accurate assessment of everyday physical activity across multiple dimensions, all of which are independently associated with health benefits. This approach enables you to develop a comprehensive understanding of all your movement, and supports you to find activities that fit into your lifestyle, with active travel being just one of many options to help you optimise the level of movement in your normal routine. By helping you to develop an in-depth understanding and awareness of your everyday physical activity, we are able to support you to overcome traditional barriers to moving more and enable you to feel the benefits of physical activity.
The objective nature of our physical activity data collection will enable the project team to evaluate the true impact of active travel on the wider physical activity habits and behaviours of those who are enrolled onto KiActiv® Health. Concurrently, our accessible approach to physical activity and our experience of developing and providing digital services that appeal to ‘hard-to-reach’ groups, enables us to support individuals taking part in the initiative by facilitating an improved understanding of the impact and benefits of everyday movement, and take important steps towards internalising new habits and benefitting long-term health outcomes.
The KiActiv® Team
