Scottish Ballet Health round up 2023

Read about how the Scottish Ballet and The ALLIANCE creative social prescribing partnership project has progressed and grown in 2023.

Scottish Ballet and the ALLIANCE creative social prescribing partnership project is exploring and embedding referral pathways and awareness of neurological dance health programmes across health, care and community settings.

The project’s initial phase, supported by SB Health evaluation, knowledge and experience, facilitated engagement and developing foundational knowledge through policy analysis, strategic relationship development, and active community engagement with strategic groups, for example International Futures Forum, Care Inspectorate’s CAPA initiative and the Scottish Social Prescribing Network. This enhanced wider networking and connections which informed the project actively forging key connections, deeply engaging with communities, and robustly raising national awareness of Scottish Ballet Dance Health.

The project has three pilot areas; NHS Orkney, NHS Glasgow, and NHS Tayside. These areas offer unique opportunities, across urban and rural geography, to establish strong professional relationships and to support the growth and embedding of SB Health neurological programmes and influence the development of champions and advocates.

Outcomes and impact from the three pilot areas are providing valuable insights, knowledge and developments. The three visits to Orkney facilitated the project team to gain an in depth understanding of the community and to build meaningful connections that span various community layers. We developed sustainable strategic connections with NHS Orkney executives and understood the island’s specific needs, opportunities and challenges. Our final visit in 2023, on the invitation from NHS Orkney’s CEO, saw the Scottish Ballet Health team successfully participate in their staff wellbeing events. This participation not only enhanced our visibility but also supported a successful NHS Orkney’s endowment application.

The team at NHS Tayside Department of Neurology, based at Ninewells Hospital, supported the co-design of the online referral system with the aim to track referrals for the forthcoming taster block of SB Health neurological dance classes in Dundee and Perth. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde quality Improvement project as part of the Care Home collaborative initiative has progressed planning for a taster block of classes which will commence early 2024.

Our wider awareness raising is supporting referrals, for example, a Care of the Elderly Unit in Glasgow are collaborating to develop a series of SB Health dance health classes, including bedside ballet.

A series of open access dance health awareness raising classes for SB Health neurological programmes will commence January 2024. The sessions will introduce participants to the evidence, benefits and impacts of dance health and present the opportunity to discuss and refine the dance health social prescribing pathways for both hybrid and in-person dance health classes. Participants will also have the opportunity to continue engaging in tailored dance health classes. University student placement programmes are supporting enriching the future workforce through sharing dance health knowledge and experiences. Scottish Ballet have welcomed health and medical students from Dundee, Glasgow, and St Andrews Universities. The students have a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in dance health as well as learning about Dance Health benefits, impacts, and the broader context of dance health in the healthcare setting. This cross-disciplinary learning and sharing are pivotal in our approach to integrating dance health into mainstream healthcare and wellness programs, in addition to highlighting third sector collaboration.

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