Experts at the Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast (ARC NWC) have been commissioned to evaluate a key public health initiative in Lancashire.

The National Institute for Health Research’s School of Public Health has awarded a grant of £155,000 to assess the impact of the Pennine Lancashire Sport England Pilot – Together an Active Future (members of the team, pictured above), an initiative aimed at individuals living or working in Pennine Lancashire who are at risk of mental well-being challenges.

ARC NWC is a government-funded collaboration, which brings together universities, local authorities, the NHS and the public to reduce health inequalities across the North West Coast and has been awarded the grant.

Dr Tanith Rose, Research Associate in Health Data Analysis for Public Health and Policy at the University of Liverpool, said, “The grant money we have received at ARC NWC will fund a Post-Doctoral Research Associate post to carry out a quantitative evaluation of the Pennine scheme alongside a process evaluation led by Lancaster University. By working with the local council and other providers we can help assess the impact this initiative is having on the health of the local population.”

Pennine Lancashire has a population of 532,500. The Pennine Lancashire Sport England Pilot – Together an Active Future is a project aiming to pave the way for transforming the lives of residents by encouraging them to become more active and use sport to lead happier and healthier lives. Its target audience will predominantly be the inactive population of approximately 106,000, particularly those with/at risk of mental wellbeing challenges due to life events.

Proposed outputs for the pilot include an increased awareness of the benefits of physical activity, increased uptake in use of local facilities for sport and an insight for service providers on how life events affect mental well-being.

The project will also facilitate a step change in how local facility providers work by collaborating on sharing ideas and resources that will support educational attainment and access to employment opportunities.

Ken Barnsley, Public Health Specialist (Age Well) at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said “This is a great opportunity to develop robust ways to look at the impact on people and communities in Pennine Lancashire of a major national pilot to address physical inactivity. The impact evaluation has great potential to impact on ways of working to increase physical activity nationally and reduce health inequalities“

Mark Gabbay, Director of ARC NWC, said: “This is an example of our members benefitting from our expertise and ability to secure grants for evaluation of front line services. We will share the findings amongst the collaboration so that communities across the North West Coast can benefit from the pioneering work in Lancashire as we continue to unite to reduce health inequalities.”