Our story
The Dundee Green Health Partnership was launched in April 2018, aiming to connect people with the outdoors for physical, mental and social wellbeing, working in partnership with Dundee City Council, NHS Tayside, the Third Sector and communities. In order to achieve this Green Health Prescriptions were developed and integrated within the NHS Tayside, focusing on the Dundee service, in order to allow healthcare professionals to refer patients to nature-based activities - outdoor physical activity groups within the local community.
As there were many local nature-based activities already, it became apparent that certain groups of people were less able to participate in the groups due to their conditions and especially cycling activities were less likely to be accessible for all. Thus ReDiscover Dundee was developed with potential service users, to enable even more people to become active and make the shift to active transport in their day to day.
Our advice
Through focus groups with potential service users we discovered that many people would like to participate in cycling as a means of travel but also for their health, however normal bicycles were not suitable for them. A variety of things can make cycling inaccessible such as balance or mobility issues, arthritis, chronic pain, the need for a mobility aid, lack of confidence and having never learnt how to cycle. We tried several adaptive bikes and found that for our focus group electric tricycles (eTrikes) were the best. The three wheels make them stable, so balance or the worry of falling is no longer an issue. The electric boost helps those less able to get moving and also helps with the occasional hill. The electric boost can also be increased so that those suffering from chronic pain can be physically active without having to put a lot of effort in to get moving.
We learnt that a lot more people than initially engaged in were benefitting from eTrikes. For example, some people who used to be keen cyclists are transitioning to eTrikes as they are getting older, to stay active and reduce the chance of falls and injuries.
We connected this project to the NHS by integrating it in our Green Health Prescribing pathway, so that clinicians across Dundee are able to refer people.
The project won Paths for All's Active Travel Project of the Year in 2020. Following on from its success, the eTrikes project expanded and were made available for patients at Carseview, as part of their supervised physical activity, and to Royal Victoria Hospital to enable patients and the local community to participate.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the health and wellness benefits from making cycling accessible to people less able to participate; reduced health inequalities; reduced overall demand on the health and social care system; making green social activities more resilient and accessible; and by spreading Green Health Prescribing across integrated care systems.
