Since the summer of 2021, Active Lincolnshire has been working closely with Active Dorset in order to share learning and develop our ability to work in the Health and Care sector.

The #TaleofTwoCounties podcast came about when Active Lincolnshire's Matt Evans (Active Lincolnshire) joined with Charlie Coward from Active Dorset to discuss what they have both learnt and experienced through working in the system. The podcast is designed to help Active Partnership staff build confidence in their work to embed physical activity in health and care pathways as the new ICS structures emerge.

For series two Charlie and Matt are back. Both have new roles within the system and are continuing to explore their learning and sharing their journeys. Come and spend some time with them; learning and exploring what it is to embed physical activity within the health system in England.

Series Two

Episode One: Social Prescribing and the VCSE sector

For the first episode of this new series Charlie and Matt are joined by Liza Jarvis (NHS England) to chat about social prescribing and how the physical activity sector can collaborate. Liza is the Senior Program Manager for Social Prescribing at NHS England and the National Lead for Children and Young People's Social Prescribing at Street Games UK. She's also a Personal Trainer so is able to add thought provoking content for the first episode in series 2.

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Episode Two: Investment and Transformation

Charlie and Matt continue to chat about connecting physical activity to local health systems. In this episode we hear about investment, awards, partnerships, the MSK pathway and NHS transformation as they continue to share their experiences in their two counties.

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Series One

Listen Now: Episode One

In episode one, they set the scene and offer advice on where to start including; relationships, building your knowledge base and considering how best to get started.

Resources that are mentioned include; Matt’s Glossary, Active Lincolnshire Website, Active Dorset Website, The King’s Fund.

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Listen Now: Episode Two

In episode two Charlie (Active Dorset) and Matt (Active Lincolnshire) discuss and explain how they've used internal and external resources in order to "connect with health". Just don't mention Crazy Golf to Charlie!

The two strategies that are referred to are Our Dorset: Moving More and Let's Move Lincolnshire.

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Listen Now: Episode Three

For the third installment of their podcast explaining work and learnings within the Health system, Matt Evans and Charlie Coward are joined by the Chair of the Board at Active Dorset, Neil Farmer. This time Charlie (Active Dorset) and Matt (Active Lincolnshire) chat with their special guest about how Active Partnership Boards "connect with health". We get some very honest insight to enable us to understand how Active Dorset got to where they are now and some top tips for what Officers could do within their own organisations.

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Listen Now: Episode Four

In episode four of their podcast explaining work and learnings within the Health system, Matt Evans and Charlie Coward are joined by Serena Davis and James Vincent (NHS Dorset Transformation Team) to chat about the amazing 'Outpatients Unit' that has been developed. They share how they connected the system to achieve better experiences for patients on waiting lists and how Covid helped in their ability to innovate.

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Listen Now: Episode Five

For episode five special guest Sue Jarvis (Maternity and Neonatal Programme Manger, NHS Lincolnshire ICB) joins Charlie and Matt to discuss the ongoing work in Lincolnshire to connect Physical Activity to Maternity Services. They share the need, the barriers and some of the issues faced across the system for this kind of work. The three provide some advice for health care professionals and providers to consider in order to replicate some of this work.

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Listen Now: Episode Six

For this episode Charlie and Matt are joined by Dr Rebecca O'Connor to discuss how we monitor our work to connect physical activity with health partners. Lincolnshire has been under the microscope, so this episode discusses what has been found and also the principles around monitoring 'systems working' rather than counting outputs. This is the journey of how Active Lincolnshire are working with evaluation to inform the work moving forwards and what model is being used as a result of it. Maybe you can work out who plays the role of Change Agent, System Translator and System Connector through these conversations?

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Listen Now: Episode Seven

For this episode Tom Burton (Sport England) and Annie Holden (Active Partnerships National Team) join Charlie and Matt for a Christmas chat about how the physical activity sector is connecting with the health system nationally. They share their experiences and ongoing challenges and make their new year's resolutions for this type of work. Tom refers to Uniting the Movement as the partners' shared vision.

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