SWIMTAG, the world’s leading platform for pool operators keen to motivate and support swimmers, has teamed up with the UK’s number one referral software provider, ReferAll. The integration allows medical professionals who prescribe pool based physical activity to access real time activity data on individual patients at the touch of a button.
ReferAll offers a fast and efficient online referral pathway for Exercise on Referral schemes. The company is currently working with over 350 services, including exercise referral schemes, health trainers, weight management services and condition specific services, to ensure referred patients receive the professional support they need to effectively and safely integrate physical activity into their lifestyle to achieve positive health outcomes.
Until now, pool-based activity has been difficult to track and monitor, with GPs and other Allied Health Professionals reliant to the word of the patient when it comes to activity undertaken. An integration with SWIMTAG means medical care and treatment plans can be prescribed based on evidence, increasing the effectiveness and relevance to the individual.
Speaking about the integration, Kieran Sloyan, MD at SWIMTAG, says: “The health benefits of an active lifestyle are well documented and utilising technology to better enable a cross-sector approach to patient care is a positive move. Swimming is still one of the most accessible activities making it popular for GPs and APHs to prescribe. This partnership brings the physical activity and health sector closer together, enabling a more effective, patient-centred service.”
Once a patient gives their consent, usually on their first visit to a leisure centre at the start of their referral programme, the medical professional who made the referral is granted access to the patient’s SWIMTAG data via the ReferAll App. They can then access detailed information relating to the type and frequency of activity the patient has undertaken. Future prescription can then be built on factual information, increasing the effectiveness of the prescription.
Stuart Stokes, Commercial Director at ReferAll, says: “At ReferAll our objective is to focus on partnerships, like SWIMTAG, to bring together like-minded people and systems to help grow our network. By doing this we can ensure access to more relevant data, providing crucial evidence to medical professionals of the on-going achievements of Exercise on Referral programmes. This reinforces the essential nature of activity based programmes and provides tangible evidence of their success.”