Active Humber have worked in partnership with the Stroke Recovery services in both North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire for some time, providing support and advice to support their service users to engage in physical activity. Prior to the first national lockdown Active Humber had funded some bowls sessions for stroke survivors in North East Lincolnshire through their Get Out Get Active Programme, which unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.
Since the lockdown the Stroke Association have stopped all face to face activities for their service users, however Active Humber have been able to support both teams to encourage their service users to either be or remain active during lockdown by sharing their Stay Active at Home activity leaflet.
The North East Lincolnshire Stroke Recovery Service have previously benefitted from additional resource through their Sport England Active Lives After Stroke project, and as a result were in a position to start an online movement group to support stroke survivors to stay active and socially engaged during the first lockdown. The North Lincolnshire Stroke Recovery Service work closely with their North East Lincolnshire counterparts and had the opportunity to link into the instructor to develop their own online offer to their service users and as a result the Stroke Association submitted a proposal for Tackling Inequalities Funding.
Active Humber worked with the the Stroke Association, to fund sessions through Sport Englands Tackling Inequalities Funding to support stroke survivors to be active in their own homes during these times.
Why the funding was needed:
Like many, Covid has had a huge impact on Stroke Survivors. Our survey of almost 2,000 stroke survivors and their carers across the UK found that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of stroke treatment and care.
Problems accessing rehabilitation and support – 39% of stroke survivors who had a stroke this year felt they had not received enough rehabilitation therapies, including physiotherapy. 34% of those who had their stroke in 2019 or before said the support they received from health and care services had been worse than before the pandemic. Around half of all stroke survivors had therapy appointments cancelled or postponed, and 56% have not felt safe to go to scheduled appointments – demonstrating the significant disruption to rehabilitation and support that Covid-19 has caused.
The pandemic and lockdown has also taken its toll on stroke survivors’ mental health, exacerbating a significant and pre-existing unmet need. 7 in 10 (69%) stroke survivors have felt more anxious and depressed lately, with 68% saying they feel more worried about their health and 69% more worried about what the future holds.
Impact of funding:
The sessions are proving very popular, we have had 10 Stroke Survivors referred into the group with 8 of them regular attenders.
The sessions are inclusive for those Stroke Survivors that have communication difficulties and for those that want to undertake exercise at home with peers that understand the challenges experienced after stroke.
With restrictions for groups meeting still in place many are using the technology to connect with peers whilst remaining at home.
Your funding has enabled us to deliver weekly movement sessions to North Lincolnshire connecting people during this difficult period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz8RhbZ67zM&feature=youtu.be