In November, ukactive launched The Active Standard, a baseline certification designed for all operators – whether from the private or public sector – and free of charge as part of ukactive membership. In the fourth blog of The Active Standard series, Matt Russel, General Manager at The River Bourne Club, explains the value of The Active Standard to his organisation and how it helps them stand out from competitors.
Why did you want to be involved in the pilot of The Active Standard?
As an independent operator, being part of the initial pilot for The Active Standard gave us an opportunity to be independently audited and demonstrate our quality of service and compliance with UK law. Customers want to know that health clubs they use take service and safety seriously, and The Active Standard gives us that stamp of approval.
The process of being approved, although daunting at first, was made so much easier with the support from the teams at ukactive and Right Directions (the assessment body).
How have you benefited from being assessed for The Active Standard?
We all like to think we have good processes and compliance procedures in place, but as busy operators, it is always possible that things can get missed. Therefore, having the assurance that you are compliant, or highlighting areas to which you are exposed, is invaluable.
Having what we do measured against the standards our trade body expects from us was a reassuring process to go through and we were able to prove that we were compliant in all areas, including healthy and safety, safeguarding, equality and diversity, GDPR and more.
What value do you think The Active Standard has for your growth?
At the club we operate many different services to help serve our local community and having a certification like The Active Standard helps us to showcase our commitment to health and safety and high standards.
We run a successful exercise referral scheme, with referrals coming from all the local GP practices, hospitals and beyond. We run ‘Otago – Strength & Balance Fall Prevention’ classes twice a week and have done so for more than seven years. This class has continued to grow, and a real sub-community has developed from it. It is something hugely important to the demographic it serves.
The plethora of schemes we have run continues, with a back catalogue of adult weight management schemes, the Good Boost project, and children’s holiday activity camps. Furthermore, we have a very strong partnership with St Peters & Ashford NHS Trust whose MSK, pelvic health, and cardiac rehab teams all operate from the club on Monday to Friday.
The Active Standard shows these key partners (Runnymede Borough Council, Surrey County Council, the NHS and other charities) and members, that we take safety and service seriously, giving them further reassurance in working with us to deliver all these schemes, projects and services.
The Active Standard gives us further credentials when reaching out to local companies to promote our corporate memberships because organisations of all sizes want to know that they are offering their staff a safe place to exercise. It gives us the edge over competitors and shows that we have pride in what we offer and deliver.
What opportunity do you think the Active Standard presents for the independent sector and operators, specifically?
The River Bourne Club is a great example of what success you can have as an independent operator working and supporting your local NHS and council in delivering their wellness strategies. These areas aren’t exclusively for local council or private leisure centres and independent clubs of all sizes can contribute in a wide variety of ways.The Active Standard certification supports clubs in fostering relationships with the local authority and other public health partners.
Even if independent health clubs aren’t looking to work with the local authority, the certification still gives your customers and corporate partners that reassurance of quality. The Active Standard is a brilliant move forward by ukactive in continuing to offer more value for money for our membership and showing the professionalism of our sector.
To find out more about The Active Standard click here or read the FAQs.
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