Wolverhampton City Council has launched an app to encourage people to lead healthy lifestyles with the support of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The Better Health: Rewards app has been made available to adults who live in the city for a pilot, more than a year after the plan was announced in late 2021.
The pilot is being delivered by the council in partnership with the Office for Health and Improvement and Disparities.
It has been backed by £3 million from DHSC to provide incentives such as vouchers for shops, gym discounts and cinema tickets for people who collect points by eating healthily and exercising regularly.
Major supermarkets including Sainsburys, ALDI, Morrisons, Tesco and Asda will participate by enabling app users to record their food shops, while companies including Amazon, Argos, Primark, M&S, John Lewis and Currys will accept the vouchers.
Various gyms and leisures centres will also offer vouchers and discounts.
Personal goals
Participants will also be given free fitness trackers to link to the app, which will generate personal health goals through targets such as increasing step count or eating more fruit and vegetables.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Steve Barclay MP said: “The launch of the new Better Health: Rewards app today in Wolverhampton will help us see how we can empower people to make healthy changes to their lifestyle.
“The pilot is an opportunity to explore how we can further harness technology to support people to improve their physical health, prevent illnesses before they develop and help to ease pressure on the NHS.
“I would encourage all adults in Wolverhampton to download the app today to improve their wellbeing and start earning exciting rewards.”
Wolverhampton was appointed for the pilot after submitting an expression of interest.
Working hard
Council leader Cllr Ian Brookfield said: “We are working hard to improve the overall health of everyone in Wolverhampton by providing innovative solutions which can help our residents get more active.
“We are already making significant progress in tackling physical inactivity, improving infrastructure and making environmental changes to enable people to be more active, and we are delighted to be working with the Department of Health and Social Care and HeadUp on this important pilot programme to see whether offering incentives can help people make positive changes to improve their health and wellbeing.”
