Tewkesbury balance classes 'reduce GP appointment demand'

The demand for GP appointments in a town has fallen by 14% since thousands of exercise classes were laid on for the over 65s.

Around 11,500 patients were contacted to take part in strength and balance classes in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

The town's proactive Health and Wellbeing Team are now working with them to spot early signs of frailty.

The team also claim to have identified unmet health needs in a third of those taking part.

After speaking to patients, the team mapped all existing services and support options in the local area and found gaps - the next step was trying to fill them.

Liz Hughes is one of thousands of pensioners living in Tewkesbury to respond to a message from her local surgery to attend one of the strength and balance classes.

Along with dozens of others, the 79-year-old now follows a fitness instructor's exercise routine in the local village hall.

Mrs Hughes said that it made her feel younger and added: "I am a lot more flexible, I can get up and down easy and I can bend and garden better. I can walk a lot better than I did."

Local businesses have helped sponsor up to 12 weekly classes focussing on mildly frail patients to prevent them becoming victims of falls.

Over the past year more than 10,000 people have also attended the tailored exercise sessions for patients with obesity, pre-diabetes and diabetes.

A Social Prescribing link worker also attends the sessions.

Anne Williams, lead nurse for health and wellbeing team, said: "Not only did they improve their strength and balance and reduce their falls but their social isolation had literally been resolved.

"They always have tea and coffee after class and they always get to see the same people."

The team have also run social health and wellbeing events, involving choirs from the local Roses theatre and Dance with Parkinson's classes.

The Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, which funds health and some social care, has been evaluating the project.

It found a 13.6 % reduction in GP contact over a 12-month period in the group of patients who attended the classes, compared with the same age group in the rest of the county.

Dr Jeremy Welch, Clinical Director of the Primary Care Network, said he is delighted that the project helped identify that a third of patients had unmet needs which they had not seen their GP about, including mobility issues, memory mood and medication issues.

Dr Welch, a partner at Mythe Medical Practice, said: "We wanted to proactively look for trouble.

"We wanted to open that Pandora's box and see what issues were sitting out there in the community - in stoical patients who didn't want to trouble the doctor because we had been so busy after Covid-19."

He added: "A lot of support groups disappeared during Covid, so we set them up and one of the big areas in need was in strength and balance."

This project has come about as a result of local businesses responding to the NHS to fund the activities.

But given the success of the scheme, it seems likely it could be expanded to the rest of the county.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]