JERSEY Sport’s ‘Move More’ campaign has received a timely revamp for 2024, which will see an 89% increase in the capacity of their referral programme.
The initiative was created in 2019 with the aim of promoting the importance of physical activity and the role it plays in mental and physical health.
Before that, Islanders found several barriers to entry in terms of getting more active, or did not know where to begin their journey.
Move More was established to help streamline the process, and set in place achievable ways to incrementally boost Islanders’ levels of activity, in turn helping both their physical and mental health.
The new framework incorporates an “improved rehabilitation exercise programme” to help Islanders with long-term health conditions to become more physically active.
From 2 April 2024, participants referred onto the 12-week Move More Referral programme by their GP or health care professional, will take part in the redeveloped rehabilitation service, offered primarily at state-of-the-art Strive, led by qualified Move More referral instructors.
Elliot Powell, programmes manager at Jersey Sport, said: “We have completed a thorough review of our Move More Referral and Pay-As-You-Go programmes due to the ever-increasing demand for these services, especially over the last couple of years since Covid-19 hit.
“Our referral service was oversubscribed and we couldn’t keep up with demand in the current format.
“By bringing the majority of our services together under one roof at Strive, we have been able to increase capacity in our redeveloped referral programme by 89%, significantly improve customer experiences and crucially reducing wait times from the current 16-week timeline.”
Along with the increased demand of their referral programme, Jersey Sport has also seen an increased demand for their “Pay-As-You-Go” classes.
To manage the growing need, from April the classes will be available only to participants who have completed the Move More Referral programme in the previous 12 months.
Jersey Sport have said that they will contact customers affected by the eligibility changes to provide assistance and information about alternative pathways to physical activity through external local providers.
Mark Wanless, interim chief executive at Jersey Sport, said: “This change allows us to welcome more participants into our referral programme, enabling more Islanders to become physically active.
“Our improved partnerships with external providers such as Active, Strive and other organisations, will allow for our Move More Referral participants to continue accessing supported or independent classes to keep them physically active.”
More information about the new Move More Referral programme and Move More Pay-As-You-Go classes can be found via movemore.je/referral.
