For those who don't know, the question of why C25k is not better publicised has been bandied about for several years. Health Unlocked has not produced anything to date (says he, as they launch a publicity campaign) so I have taken it on myself and this is getting near to the final version of the poster. Minor detail changes can still be undertaken, but I would really like to move it on to the next stage and get it out to the public. Unless there is an overwhelmingly negative response to this poster, I propose to send it to the Health Unlocked admin for approval and consent to distribute it.
The following is my thinking behind what I have produced, bearing in mind comments on the first version. This will be produced as a PDF, which can then be accessed online or printed out for display in GP's waiting rooms or handed to patients. If we have a link to the poster from here, we can all access it and send it to our GP practice managers as a PDF or as a printed poster. It hopefully provides all the information and some inspiration, to delve further, admittedly only for those with internet access.
The double heading “Take Control......” etc. is really there to pique a viewer's interest, but reflects my philosophy that undertaking a programme, like C25k, really is about the individual taking responsibility for their life and future health and that the consequences can be very far reaching. This is getting away from the obvious, such as “DO YOU WANT TO START RUNNING?”, which would be met with a resounding “NO” from many and a total loss of interest in the rest of the poster.
The logo is there for branding purposes (so long as we are allowed to use it) so our poster relates to other C25k literature and web pages. As a PDF online, the URL link can be clicked on directly to take the viewer to C25k pages at Live Well. The QR codes can be scanned from a printed poster on the wall enabling our viewer to access those same pages. The first paragraph of text is taken from the Live Well pages and is include as it is the official description of C25k.
The “How it Works” paragraph is designed to make the whole process sound very simple and accessible and point up this forum. “Linda's Story” is self explanatory. Linda found herself in the cycle that so many exist in, but tells how she broke free and has gone from strength to strength through C25k and the 5:2 diet. I foresee that the 5:2 diet may cause some anxiety for the powers that may or may not be, as I don't think it is officially sanctioned by the NHS, but it is a reality that many can relate to and requires willpower to undertake.
The final paragraph is an invitation to look at this forum...........right, everyone on their best behaviour from now on.......... because I know that looking here swayed me into the decision that I could actually do this C25k thing.
I would like to thank all who commented on the first version and Linda for agreeing to be on the poster.
Can someone put a link up on the C25k Facebook page, please. I really don't get Facebook.
Any suggestions regarding the poster or distribution methods will be gratefully received.
We are on our way. Keep running, keep smiling.
Ianno da Truffe
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The lunchtime news yesterday kept banging on about Bariatric surgery as a solution for obesity problems. Surely C25K is also a do-able solution. Why do we not hear a great deal more about it?
Thank you Iannoda for taking the initiative!
Personally I think that subsidised gym/leisure centre fees could be a way forward.
I complete agree with you Beek - the news reports yesterday annoyed me a little. C25K is better, cheaper and safer than a 'quick-fix' operation in my opinion. And surely prevention is better than cure?
Thank you for all your hard work Iannoda - I think the poster looks great, and Linda's story is truly inspiring. My only slight query would be with the mention of the 5:2 diet, as it's not an NHS endorsed diet at the moment, so could be seen as promoting a particular diet (which medical establishments may be unwilling to do). It might be better to change it to just dieting instead of mentioning the name of the diet.
We all know that not everybody will take it up, but there must be loads of folk who are motivated but just ignorant of the existence of C25k who could benefit.
As I mention, the 5:2 diet could be a sticking point. Is it a commercial thing? I am not well up in the dieting world.
It's not that it's a commercial thing especially. The world of the NHS with regards to treatments is that they have to be evidence based, in other words they need to have properly run clinical trials proving that they work. Although a lot of people have had success on 5:2, the actual evidence that they work is still fairly limited. So they could be reluctant to condone or promote a diet for which there is not sufficient evidence.
The news report I heard implied that the surgury would be approved for those so obese that they are virtually immobilized or near enough. Those for whom the time something more sensible would take would be too long. An last ditch measure.
BMI of 30 or above was what I heard mentioned. That's merely the definition of obese. I was obese when I started C25K.
I am appalled. There would be so many knock-on benefits to improving access to healthy lifestyles. Trouble is all services are in their own little boxes these days.
Enthusiasm's middle name ..... or Danger.....(well, actually it's Jane!)
Hello! I've not been on here for a very long time but I'm very often about in the Facebook group. I had a meeting yesterday with the PPG (Patient Participation Group) of my GP practice and I mentioned the C25k, and surprise, surprise, no-one had heard of it. I'm going to go in to the surgery in a couple of weeks to try and promote it and want a poster. I'm guessing the permission is not there to distribute this one you have very kindly done just yet. Is there any indication how long the permission will take? High 5 to you Ianoda
Beek, the news yesterday about the bariatric surgery absolutely outraged me. The NHS is short of money as it is and I really do believe that people should take individual responsibility for themselves. There has been subsidised gym fees offered before (not sure any of these schemes still operate) but patients don't always take the offers up fully or use the services appropriately for their benefit which is quite sad really. I hope by trying to promote the C25k program, it may encourage a bit of a local community to encourage one another to keep going.
Yeah, surprise, surprise!! If my dealings with HU admin to date are anything to go by, then it might take some time to get permissions, but I will hassle them for a response.
Go backto theLivewell c25k pages. They have been posting interviews with graduates. Printing out those pages might do well for a handout. Copy pasting into a cleaner format might be better still.
OR, HEY, contact those members and edit a something from their interview?
My GP practice gave me a form which they had endorsed for me to apply for a Leeds 'Bodyline' card which allows me to use LCC leisure facilities (including classes) for free for 3 months. I am using it to keep my fitness up whilst I can't run. I think I should write to my MP about promoting this type of initiative. It must be a cheaper option than all the medications and treatments.
I agree with you, I too felt really angered with the news reports yesterday. It is up to each of us to be as well as we can be for as long as we can be. I am T2 diabetic and I am beginning to feel a bit of a pariah because of that condition using up 10% of NHS funds. A lot more needs to go into promoting this programme and the MANY and various health improvements which result from it.
Success breeds success so we need to be shouting about our success from the rooftops!
IANNODA: Please let us know as soon as we can circulate this poster. I'm certain that many of us already have ideas of where they could be placed and would not mind printing some off.
Excellent poster. Concise, to the point and eye catching. You can't beat a subjects "story" either, as this in itself would be enough for some people to give it a go. I think we all know that once you start, there's that clever competitive edge built into the program that makes you want to keep going!
I like the poster and I think it's good you mention this community as I think the support and sharing of experiences makes a big difference even if like me, you usually lurk reading everyone elses posts! I have a couple of colleagues that dabbled in C25K but didn't complete it and I'm sure it's partly because they didn't use this community for support. I work in the nhs (desk job) and am also amazed this has not been promoted much, as well as the fitness benefits it should be prescribed for the benefits it can have on mental health and wellbeing. I look forward to this being promoted so I can sing it's praises to anyone who'll listen!
The poster is looking really good, however I do have a 'but' Linda's diet is mentioned more often the C25K its even spoken of first in one sentence. I wonder that HU will think this is more a promotion of 5:2 diet than their C25K running program. (Only my thoughts and view)
Thanks for all the hard work you have put into this Poster Ianno lets hope it gets the green light soon.
Tim, I like the poster and the content. I guess the diet commentary does split the story slightly, if perhaps it referred to a healthy diet rather than a specific plan that would still give the same message. I had a look online there are two versions of the 5:2 diet neither with an NHS connection or endorsement that I can see. I could imagine this as a blocker to approval if there is to be one otherwise I think it gets the point over and encourages people to get involved.
I can see us all promoting C25K in our local GP practices and in the local press. You could be in the process of getting a monolithic wheel moving.
Great poster and initiative!! I do not understand why they are not every in GP practice/ nurse room in the UK! When you think of the asthma clinics and lifestyle related problems they see 1000 of patients with; I would be shouting it from the roof tops! Linda's story is great and if you read anybody's profile on here you have hundreds of inspirational stories.. all ready and prepared. Perhaps a link up to these too - if they are not already convinced. Good luck with the mission!
Great poster. Only small point is that parkrun should be written with a 'small' p. It also gets me wondering whether there is some way we could build closer links with parkrun?
Great looking poster and I must congratulate you on the effort put into it. I agree with oldgirl though about the promotion of the 5:2 diet. Do we really need to mention it?
great job, and well done for taking the initiative here. I think we may need to talk about a healthy approach to eating, etc rather than 5:2 specifically, as it does detract a little from impact of C25K, but happy to go with the flow on it, if we get approval.
If you like, I'd be happy to write an eDM (email!) for C25Kers to use to send it in to their GP surgery (then if there is any duplication at least the messaging is consistent). The poster does a great job of selling it to the public, I think we might be able to increase the impact if we also sell it into the GPs (the benefits to them, etc) in a covering email or letter, so that they don't just put up the poster, hopefully they will start talking about the programme and recommending it to patients.
Vix, thanks for the offer to write a covering letter/email that we can use to distribute with the poster/handout. GPs, practice nurses and also practice managers need to be aware of this and we need to push it as a poster and a handout. The potential savings for every practice are huge, but they would still be able to say they are looking after their patients. It is win win for everybody concerned.
Either put your letter up as a post or pm me with it so that it can be posted together with the final poster. Thanks
I agree, but can't find time to reorganise it all for a bifold, so it will have to work as a single A4 information sheet, which is also quicker to print off by GPs, on demand.
Well done for keeping on with this Ianodda. I think it's great and would be happy to use it to promote CV25K it in any way I can. I am another one who would prefer the 5:2 mention changed to healthy eating though. I understand it was really effective for gingernut but I would really like to see the c25k being the star of the poster. Excited about getting the info out there.
Great poster, really great. I'm with Oldgirl though, in thinking that rather than mentioning the 5:2 diet by name, it may be better just to mention c25k in combination with a calorie controlled diet. Just a thought. A very eye-catching poster though, IdT
Hi Iannoda, I think the poster is great. The only thing that's missing, is the C25K a bit more prominent on the logo square; it just says 5K which will probably mean zilch to most people. I'm glad that this is being promoted; I wish I had found it years ago! Good luck, and as you know, we are all walking sales reps for the programme
Well done on continuing your excellent work on this, Iannoda. The poster looks great; awareness about C25K really is needed as there are so many people who could benefit from the programme, who just don't know it exists. I found it completely accidentally and thought it looked good; I wish I'd found out about it so much sooner. Keep the good work up; it's looking great.
I feel it is appropriate to mention that 'looking at food intake''health eating' is mentioned - it would be dishonest to hold out NHS C25K as 'all you need to do to lose weight'. However, if we want to promote NHS C25K effectively, then we should promote NHS C25K. It is a confused message otherwise.
I know gingernut49 feels very, very passionately about 5:2 and may not have agreed to be the poster girl without it.
Hi, what a great idea. Like the poster, good to have the link and mention of this fab forum. Agree with everyone else about ditching the 5:2 business. Great to have a real story but I would say it needs more focus on c25k and how the real person found that along with the support of the forum.
And why oh why don't people expect to take control and responibility of their own lives. I also could not believe the news about offering that surgery to the obese. The focus should be on preventative measures such as keeping fit and healthy.
I heard about this from a friend and it's just been the best thing ever. I'm now a real champion for c25k, telling everyone and/or sending them the link. It's amazing and gp surgeries and hospitals etc should do more to promote it.
I really don't want to be at all negative, as I passionately believe that people need to be encouraged to help themselves in all ways. However, is it really HU we need to approach about this? HU is just a social network that allows people to discuss their health íssues (see About Us on their website). If we are to quote the NHS Choices promoted programme, do we not need permission from the NHS?
Hennith, I have previously tried to talk to NHS Choices and got absolutely nowhere. I believe that you are correct and that it will ultimately be NHS Choices who have to make the decision and I am hoping that the HU admin can direct us to the most likely individuals to help us get a decision. I may well call on LauraStQ, yes that Laura, who was enthusiastic about the idea, but unfortunately failed to follow through, as did everyone else that I communicated with. Don't worry, we have a fait accompli in that the poster will be distributed without permission if they can't get their act together and if I can't badger a decision out of them.
Well done for putting this together. I took a look at linked in and Helen Rowntree appears to be responsible for on and offline marketing so you could try getting in touch with her or I'd be happy to try on your behalf linkedin.com/profile/view?i...
It's unbelievable isn't it? They won't even help you to help them do their job! Well done for sticking at it though. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that...
I have only just stumbled across this thread but am so impressed you are doing something about this Monsieur Truffe. It is incredible to me that when I talk about C25K I get blank looks, even from people at the Running Club I briefly joined. Whereas everyone, apparently has heard of gastric band surgery, that no- effort solution for self inflicted obesity. What we need (as well as your posters obviously) is a big media story about C25K. Does anyone have a contact in the Beeb and could plant an idea for a documentary about Laura and her ever-spreading influence ? Even if it's presented as one alternative in a TV or radio programme about weight loss and health issues it will spread the word. We just need a bigger profile (puts thinking cap on) .
Hi TT, I have been thinking about the next stage and think that some TV coverage would be great. Apart from publicising local events, which we could quite easily arrange, I would love to see a group of new runners followed through from couch to graduation and maybe beyond. This could work really well as a feature on something like The One Show. If the group all came from the same work place it would be interesting to see the impact of their new found fitness on their work lives. Who knows, if it could be demonstrated that productivity increased then maybe there would be an even greater interest. Let's keep bouncing ideas until something begins to gel.
A bit like The Choir for Couch potatoes! They just need a friendly Gareth Malone figure to coach the teams along and pit them against each other in a 5 or 10K final... I like it!
My idea is just to follow them through as they complete the programme, by themselves and maybe ending up with a non competitive 30 minute group run. The important point to get across is, as we know, that age and physical fitness at the outset is no bar to success with C25k. Keep thinking.
Sadly so true. I saw a short TV series a few months which featured a small group of people each week (only about 6, i think) who were trained from zero-fitness to being able to compete in one particular challenge. But they were ridiculously tough challenges such as an Iron Man Triathlon (and this included one non-swimmer) and an mammoth Alpine bike ride (with a guy who previously couldn't ride a bike). Challenges that the average viewer would not dream of aspiring to.
Of course the telly revealed plenty of blood, sweat and tears. Drama. That's what the TV execs think we punters want. When watching this I was annoyed that the TV production team were spending all this time and effort training such a tiny, wee bunch of people for 12 weeks when they could have encouraged 1000s of people to start C25K.
I do think you're right. But sadly I think the TV execs are speaking the truth. To keep people watching they need excitement, plot development and sound bites. TV is about entertainment, not education. e.g Embarrassing Bodies , Countryfile. I could go on....
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Is a poster really enough? can we realistically just design a poster and then pat ourselves on the back for changing the world?
First time poster.
*****THE ANNOUNCEMENT*****
I got a mention in the Parkrun weekly podcast!
