Eight weeks ago, 55-year-old John Davis had never set foot in a gym before. However, having been referred onto Derby County Community Trust’s Health and Wellbeing programme, John is now feeling the benefit of regular exercise.

As a type two diabetic, John must stay active to help manage his blood sugar levels – something he believes the variety of activities the Health and Wellbeing programme is playing a key part in.

“The variety of activities is very appealing to me, in a normal week I’ll attend around six to eight classes where I can, everything from the gym sessions to Dance Fit and Yoga.

“The flexibility is really good for me to be able to fit the sessions around my working hours and being able to exercise but in different ways has been really eye opening for me too.

“It may be early days for me, but already it’s helping me to push through the annoying things in life – for example mowing the garden is quite a monotonous task, but now I don’t see that, I see it as another way to exercise, if I can do ten or twenty minutes on a treadmill – I can do the same in the garden.”

Whilst exercising wasn’t an alien concept to John, doing so in a gym was.

“I was really quite nervous at first because I’d never, ever, been to a gym before because you have to motivate yourself. You don’t have the support network of the staff and other participants like you do here.

“I’m not usually an anxious person, but there is a level of anxiety and self doubt around going alone. What’s really been key for me so far is the support of others, we have a WhatsApp group so there’s always someone to talk to who understands your situation.

“I now feel more confident in coming to the gym and when the programme is over, I think I’ll have the motivation I once lacked to continue. I may only be only eight weeks in, but already I feel like I have more energy and feel in better shape.”

Health and Wellbeing is an exclusive programme to support long-term conditions for patients of GP surgeries int he Derby North Primary Care Network. To find out more and see if you're eligible, please see the page below.

Health and Wellbeing