Cycling on Prescription: Empowering Health and Well-Being with See.Sense

Cycling on Prescription is a game-changer in healthcare and community development. By prescribing activities like walking, wheeling, and cycling, healthcare professionals aim to address the root causes of patients' symptoms while promoting physical and mental health. 

It also unlocks a multitude of benefits that extend beyond just physical health, such as improving air quality and reducing congestion benefiting both individuals and communities alike. 

By encouraging cycling, we can reduce GP appointments, decrease reliance on medication, and reduce chronic conditions like heart disease and obesity. Furthermore, it promotes community connection and engagement, fostering a sense of belonging and support that contributes to overall happiness and mental well-being.

The Move Towards Cycling On Prescription

The government committed to fund active travel social prescribing pilots as part of the gear change plan in 2020.  Now, Active Travel England has recently allocated funding for eleven local authorities to trial social prescriptions for walking, wheeling and cycling, which has the potential to significantly reduce the burden on healthcare systems and improve overall community well-being.

The pilots are taking a pioneering approach that will see active travel and health officials work together to develop a whole systems approach to health improvement and tackling health disparities. Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman said:

“Many studies have shown active travel has massive health benefits. Enabling everyone in England to travel under their own steam will help reduce conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, whilst at the same time, improving mental wellbeing. We aim to use these trials to build on the existing evidence to show how bringing transport, active travel and health together can help build a healthier nation in an easy and sustainable way."

But with monitoring and evaluation, and capturing of evidence being so important to these trials, how will local authorities gather the data needed?  How will it be possible to track and monitor the usage of bikes so that you know if an individual is meeting the prescribed level of activity? And how can their prescriber keep track of progress? And even help to identify if there has been a drop off in cycling to help nudge behaviour change?

With our advanced monitoring technology, See.Sense can provide support to monitor and evaluate the impact of cycling on prescription schemes. 

How can See.Sense Help?

At See.Sense, we help to empower Cycling on Prescription initiatives with cutting-edge technology and data-driven insights. 

Capture 100% of the rides - no app involved 

Our SUMMIT GPS sensor trackers are specifically designed for micromobility, and work with both e-bikes and regular bikes or adapted bikes that have a dynamo power source.  The device is easily fitted and does not need to be charged.   

With data collected automatically during rides, participants can focus on enjoying their cycling experience without manually logging data. This not only reduces the risk of data loss but also eliminates demographic barriers, ensuring inclusivity in the analysis.

This is perfect for this type of project, it is simple for everyone to get involved, as there is no need to use an app or access a smartphone. They simply ride the bike, and we’ll capture the data. 

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Easily gather data for monitoring & evaluation, and reporting

Our user-friendly dashboards and downloadable reports facilitate seamless data analysis and reporting. You can easily evaluate the impact of your active travel projects, gaining near-real-time data visualisation for a deeper understanding of participants' behaviour change journey.  Our dashboards were co-designed with local authorities, so you can easily access the information needed on each participant, showing stats such as miles ridden, active minutes, last date ridden and more. 

Data privacy and compliance with GDPR regulations are paramount to us, and we are fully GDPR compliant.

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Support Behaviour Change 

Project managers can use our easily downloadable reports to identify participants who are riding infrequently, and to provide support.   

Optionally, each rider can also receive their own ride stats including miles travelled, CO2 saved in an email report sent to them on a weekly or monthly basis. 

Optional: Data to support cycle infrastructure planning  

By collecting rich sensor data at up to 800 times per second, we also gain unique insights into the rider's experience. This includes swerving and braking patterns, road surface conditions, dwell times, and popular routes and more. These anonymised data insights can be shared with the local authority under licence to help them improve the safety and performance of cycling infrastructure, making it attractive for more people to cycle. 

Get In Touch

Cycling on Prescription is a transformative approach to healthcare and community well-being, with potential to significantly improve public health, reduce the burden on healthcare systems, and enhance community well-being, promising a brighter and healthier future for individuals and communities alike.

See.Sense plays a crucial role by providing cutting-edge technology and data-driven insights through smart connected bike lights and GPS trackers, empowering the initiative with valuable data to optimise interventions. 

If you would like to get in touch to learn more or arrange a call, please contact us here. To stay up to date with See.Sense updates and to receive a monthly round-up of micromobility news, sign-up to our Let’s Talk Cities Newsletter.