Celebrating 22 years of Good Moves
A community-led success story.
For 22 years, Good Moves has helped people in Tower Hamlets manage their long-term health conditions and overall health.
The Ocean Estate, Tower Hamlets
Back in 2000, we conducted a health needs assessment and engagement exercise with Bangladeshi men living on the Ocean Estate in Tower Hamlets. Although many had long-term conditions, we found that a significant number were not accessing mainstream health and exercise services.
We recognised a need for more accessible services in community languages and so developed a new way of promoting physical activity and health – a service that was culturally appropriate and delivered by people from the community; Good Moves was born!
At Social Action for Health, we always aim to build lasting and trusting relationships with the communities we serve, and this has proved to be crucial for the successful development of projects like Good Moves. We asked the community what was needed, listened, and acted. This ethos has been at the heart of Good Moves’ evolution and, most importantly, reflects how Social Action for Health operates as an organisation.
After successfully delivering our first course in Bengali, we secured 5 years of funding to expand Good Moves to other communities on the Ocean Estate, such as Somali and white working-class groups, and we trained people from the Ocean Estate to become Good Moves tutors.
Fast forward to 2017, we had expanded Good Moves across Tower Hamlets, more tutors were trained, and courses were delivered in more community languages such as Nepalese, Vietnamese, and Chinese. To reflect the changing needs of our communities, the course content was updated, and specific session plans were developed to ensure a high-quality standard of delivery.
We learned how meaningful and impactful it is to hear from someone with similar experiences. Our group sessions nurtured a sense of togetherness between participants, and we found that they became more comfortable with sharing their own experiences and ideas. This subsequently improved our participants’ confidence levels; they felt able to take control of their health, using the knowledge they had built to better manage their existing conditions. They demonstrated their willingness and ability to prepare for appointments and adopted healthy lifestyle changes to their diet and physical activity.
A Good Moves session in action
In 2016-17, Good Moves had an average 3-point increase in Patient Activation Measure (PAM) scores. Each point increase in a PAM score correlates to a 2% decrease in hospitalisation and 2% increase in medication adherence. In more recent years, we have worked even more closely with diabetes and other health clinics and specifically referred participants to their services.
The benefits of Good Moves have also been recognised externally. Good Moves was shortlisted at The Charity Awards in 2018 and was shortlisted for the Health and Wellbeing Award at the London Sport Awards in 2021.
Good Moves owes its achievements to the feedback and insight we received from the communities in Tower Hamlets and the enthusiasm from so many people to support one another. Without this, we could not have created a service that met the right needs and priorities. So, to everyone who has ever been involved in Good Moves, thank you – these 22 years are because of you!