News Update
July 2010
Optima-life Features in NHS Sport and Physical Activity Launch
The 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games have provided the inspiration for the 2010 NHS Sport and Physical Activity Challenge. The aim is to get 300,000 NHS employees actively involved in sport and physical activity by 2012 and Simon Shepard, CEO of Optima-life, joined Olympians Jonathan Edwards and Steve Parry in helping to launch this innovative campaign at the Emirates Stadium.
Over 200 NHS managers and staff first heard Dr Steve Boorman, the Lead in the delivery of the NHS workforce health and well-being review, highlight the need for positive change and also deliver damning figures on the cost of physical inactivity and related long term diseases both for the NHS and the nation as a whole.
Sir David Nicholson's challenge to NHS Trusts to get staff more active could help to reduce by one third a £1.5billion sickness and absenteeism bill, directly linked to physical inactivity and related diseases. The aim going forward is to put 'the health of the staff at the heart of the NHS mission and operational approach.'
Jonathan Edwards, an Olympic Gold medallist for the Triple Jump at the Sydney Olympics, delivered an eloquent speech which welcomed the NHS as a partner in the 2012 INSPIRE programme and highlighted the opportunity that the Games will bring to change the lives of millions of people.
Time is the most frequently quoted barrier to physical activity according to Mike Farrar, Chief Executive of NHS North West and Government Tsar for Sport and Health. He emphasised the need to connect with staff at an emotional level to bring about change and also discovered, as a result of being monitored over a 48 hour period by the Optima-life team, that not all physical activity has a health promoting effect.
In sharing his data with the audience the results showed that, while the Chief Executive of NHS North West showed significant improvement when he undertook physical activity, it needed to be harder and longer to create a significant health promoting effect.
Simon Shepard was further able to show that health and well-being for individuals does not necessarily correlate with specific jobs within the NHS but is about individual attitudes to lifestyle.
Natalie Allcock, Optima-life's Senior Performance Advisor had travelled to the West Midlands to monitor 5 staff – a nurse, a radiographer, a porter, a physical activity co-ordinator and a graphic designer based in the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust has been a driving force in promoting physical activity among its staff. The results took the audience by surprise. While many assumed that the porter's job would show the most positive effects of exercise, it was the graphic designer who sits at a desk all day who showed the most health promoting physical activity in a 24hour period. While his job is sedentary he cycles to and from work each day as part of his physical activity regime.
A series of short presentations and a question and answer session with Clare Chapman, Director General of Workforce for NHS and Social Care, Jonathan Edwards and Dr Steve Boorman highlighted some of the physical activity success stories and focused on some of the challenges that lay ahead.
Swimmer Steve Parry, winner of a Bronze medal at the Athens Olympics, closed the event with a hugely entertaining and amusing look at life as an Olympian through the eyes of Steve Parry. His talk, filled with amusing and often self deprecating anecdotes, provided the perfect note to conclude events and inspire the audience to take the message back to the Trust.
Optima-life's CEO Simon Shepard, himself a physiotherapist with a passion for improving the health of the nation, said:
'The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games really can inspire and motivate the whole nation and I felt privileged to be here. All of the attendees seemed united in the aspiration that sport truly can be a motivational catalyst in delivering health not just for the NHS workforce but for the workforce across the nation.'
Al Andalus Trail Runners Are Put to the Test
Coventry University have linked up with Optima –life as part of the 2010 Al Andalus Ultra Trail Research Collaboration
The university Sports Science team, who are already using Optima-life's Firstbeat technology, will monitor individuals during the event, which begins on the12th July 2010. They will also look at overnight recovery to gain an insight into how the runners are coping.
The trail lasts for 5 days and is 230km long. It is a massive test on the human body as runners not only have to cover a huge distance each day, but they also have to overcome various types of mountainous terrain and cope with humid temperature.
The organisers, however, do have a heart. The route is divided into 5 stages; each stage finishing close to a village within the Grenada Province in Andalucia. The idea is for competitors to enjoy the culture and ambiance of the region as well as coping with this very tough challenge.
Each person taking part in the race will wear a Heart Rate monitor which will capture personalised heart rate data minute by minute, beat by beat in real time. Data will be downloaded viaa docking port and emailed back to the university team. There objective personalised reports can be produced. These will show how each of the runners is coping during the race, looking at load, stress levels and most importantly, recovery patterns.
The race is not for the faint hearted. How well their hearts and bodies really cope – time will tell.
For more details about the trail click the link below
http://www.alandalus-ut.com/P/news.asp?intnID=22
