APPHLE HIT's achievements of 2020-21

Directors of the Active People Promoting Healthy Life Expectancy (APPHLE) HIT Karen Lloyd and Professor Charlie Foster provide an update on the HIT’s work in 2020/21.

Last year APPHLE HIT partnered with Active Ageing Bristol/Age UK Bristol and Bristol City Council Sustainable Transport Team to procure a FREE walking app. The app will be launched in May as part of Bristol Walk Fest 2021, a Bristol section on Go Jauntly. Apart from general walks it will also have 20 curated walks that Go Jauntly can add further information to including stops along the walk with audio, links to sites or further text. Other features include an A to B navigate feature that uses open data to give you quiet or green routes away from main roads and another that generates a circular walk for you in your location using green spaces and where possible quieter routes. With participant agreement, the app will enable us to capture both quantitative and qualitative data to analyse people’s walking behaviours.

In partnership with West of England Nature Partnership, The Care Forum, Bristol Ageing Better, LinkAge and Bristol Health Partners, we developed a Healthy Ageing Directory, a guide for use as a resource for primary care workers and social prescribing link workers to signpost people to activity, as well as for local Bristol residents. It will be published as a hard copy and available from April 2021.

APPHLE HIT partnered with the charity Above and Beyond to extend the marketing and awareness of the Active Ageing Bristol Age-Friendly Physical Activity Hubs (16 local organisations covering 19 sites), as places that welcome and support physical activity for older people. The scheme was launched back in October 2019.

Supported by APPHLE HIT, a University of Bristol MSc student developed a research project to advance understanding of enablers and barriers to older Black Caribbean and Black African communities accessing Green Spaces in Bristol. Networking and recruitment have been particularly effective, focussed on linking with a broad range of local community groups and key community leaders. This work followed discussions with Black and Green Ambassadors and Wellspring Settlement, and enabled the researcher to effectively target recruitment, using a variety of communication channels including emails, telephone conversations, hand delivered letters, social media and an interview on Ujima radio.

Professor Selena Gray, founding director of APPHLE HIT has recently stood down, after leading the academic work of the HIT for seven years. The APPHLE HIT is massively grateful for Selena’s hugely valued leadership and impact.

Prof Charlie Foster, OBE, has been appointed as the new director and is warmly welcomed! Charlie is currently the Head of the Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences at the University of Bristol. Charlie is a world leader in evidence synthesis and is currently advisor to the four UK Chief Medical Officers.