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Swim England and Good Boost have won two prestigious honours at the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) Awards.

It was a successful evening at the East Wintergarden in London as the partnership were announced as winners of the Community Health Development category, followed by the Public Health Minister’s Award.

The recognition comes following the work done to create more accessible, inclusive and welcoming aquatic spaces which has included developing the Good Boost Aqua Rehabilitation app.

It is the first time the partnership has been recognised by the RSPH in this way since it began in 2018.

The other finalists in the Community Health Development category were Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) and Cancer Research UK. The winner of the Public Health Minister’s Award is then chosen from the winners of each category.

Swim England’s water wellbeing specialist, Andrew Power, was accompanied by Good Boost CEO Ben Wilkins and Professor Scarlett McNally to collect the awards.

On winning the honours, Andrew said: “This is a huge achievement. We were delighted to be presented with the Community Health Development Award but we were absolutely amazed to also be awarded the Public Health Minister’s Award.

“The success is a culmination of all the hard work of so many individuals over the last four years. It has been fantastic to be involved in this partnership with Good Boost and to be recognised for this work is phenomenal.

“We’re seeing the positive impact everywhere, from people who are able to cancel surgeries, those with improved mobility and those who couldn’t exercise on land who now can.

“Good Boost is transforming people’s lives. To be able to help people to overcome years of chronic pain, discomfort, poor mobility and function is an overwhelming feeling.

“We have plans to continue expanding the work and bring new sites on board, meaning that more pools around the country will be able to offer the Good Boost application.”
Jane Nickerson, Swim England chief executive, also described it as a ‘sensational’ achievement.

She said: “To win both awards is sensational and testament to the work that is being done by our health and wellbeing team, the team at Good Boost and everyone else involved.

“These awards are not sport based, they cover all types of public health interventions, so these achievements are a fantastic recognition of the value of this programme to the health and wellbeing of the nation.

“We know the positive impact this work is having for many people up and down the country who are living with long-term health conditions and we hope to help many more as we continue this partnership.”

Good Boost CEO, Ben Wilkins, added: “This has been years of co-design and co-production work with people living with MSK conditions, health care professionals and swimming pool operators to create a solution that is fit-for-purpose, creates health impact and can be grown nationally through scalable model of tablets, technology and training.

“We’re proud to be recognised by both awards, but it’s not just an award for Good Boost and Swim England, it’s the recognition that delivering health and wellbeing services in swimming pools and leisure centres works.

“It’s recognition for the sector to drive forward the utilisation of aquatic spaces as additional and complementing capacity alongside public health and NHS services.
“The feedback from the awards team was the importance of the data and measurement in the delivery of Water Wellbeing and Good Boost.

“It highlights that it’s not just delivering aquatic wellbeing services, but having the ability to measure the impact and outcomes through Good Boost’s digital technology. Evidencing impact is essential and a critical element for the collaboration and recognition by NHS and public health services to work with venues in creating health and wellbeing capacity in any and every swimming pool in the nation.”