activmobs
With Kent County Council

activmobs is a system that supports people to form 'mobs' to get active and stay active. activmobs was designed and developed with the people of Park Wood, Maidstone, and with Kent County Council.

Obesity and chronic disease, especially amongst older people, are major health challenges in the UK. Underlying these problems is a trend towards less physically active lifestyles. Staying active can mean a reduction of up to 50% in the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

People find exercise hard to prioritise. For many it is something that happens 'in the gym' rather than in their day-to-day lives. Some feel too embarrassed by their size or abilities to go to a class, or too vulnerable to go walking on their own. Tapping into people's own interests, like dancing, capitalising on informal activities, like gardening, and building on group motivation gave birth to activmobs.

Mobs are small groups of people who choose an activity to do together on a regular basis. Mobs are connected by the activmobs system. The people of Park Wood in Maidstone formed mobs around activities like dog-walking, exercises to relieve back pain, or by combining walking with an interest like local history.

activmobs is a platform for activity. It provides web-based tools to help people find, suggest and start mobs. Registering with the activmobs system gives your mob a number of hours with an activmobs trainer, who helps to make your activity effective for improving fitness. Any activity can be mobbed as long as it is beneficial for fitness. With the right support, walking the dog can be a great way to stay fit. The system motivates people by helping them to recognise tangible benefits of activity (through self-assessed 'wellbeing cards'), visualise progress, set goals and reward commitment.

activmobs is self-organising and co-created by the community of mobs. It is being developed by Kent County Council as an independent social enterprise, representing a new approach to preventative healthcare.

The diabetes agenda
With the Bolton Diabetes Network

Me2 is a system that supports and enables people to live well with type 2 diabetes. It was designed with people with diabetes in Bolton, their families, and the Bolton Diabetes Network.

In Bolton alone, 29 people are newly diagnosed with diabetes every week. Nearly 11,000 people are already living with the condition - 1 in 20 of the town's population. If not managed well, diabetes can lead to loss of eyesight, kidney failure and nerve ending degeneration. A person with diabetes spends, on average, just three hours a year with doctors, but thousands of hours self-managing their condition.

The onset of type 2 diabetes can be slowed by a healthy diet, regular exercise and ceasing to smoke. Bolton has a good patient education programme, and the majority of patients know what they should be doing to manage their diabetes. Putting it into practice, however, is not so easy. People with diabetes, and their families, must make significant changes in their lives and routines. Designing from the perspective of the individual generated a new kind of solution.

Me2 is a system that supports and enables people to live well with diabetes in their everyday lives. It provides a platform for people to co-create care services with professionals that are right for them as individuals.

The Agenda cards reframe the interaction between patients and professionals, giving the patient the agenda. Me2 coaches are independent of the health service, and support people in making changes to their lifestyles. The Diabetes blog allows patients, their families and professionals to develop and share management strategies and experiences.

Me2 represents a major shift in thinking on the way we approach the management of chronic conditions, and demonstrates how a new organisational model for doing so can be designed to work in practice