Health care Archives - Bluestep Solutions

Bluestep are pleased to announce the launch of the ‘Community Living Well’ website, a brand new support service in West London.

Dedicated to mental health and social well-being, Community Living Well puts you in the centre.

With a range of professionals providing support that is tailored to the individual, whether it’s getting help with employment to psychological therapy, this is a valuable service with the community at the heart of what they do.

Bluestep were approached to build and design the website, and are delighted to be part of a service seeking to create positive change.

We spent time with focus groups and service users to ensure the design and website was a welcoming space that is also functional and easy to use, ensuring people find the support they need.

You can find the Community Living Well website here, and check out how the Bluestep healthcare team are making a difference with the exciting projects we have been working on across the country.

If you are interested in learning more about what we do, email us at healthcare@bluestepsolutions.com

At Bluestep, we take real pride in our heritage and the work we’ve done over the years with the NHS, which ultimately, has helped us to become the company that we are today.

For the third year in a row, our healthcare team ventured up to Manchester for the highly acclaimed NHS Health and Care Innovation Expo to exhibit our work and network with industry contacts, old and new.

So, what happened at the Health and Care Innovation Expo this year?

Besides being able to have a good catch up with our clients from across the country, the team had a great time meeting with new contacts and key NHS decision makers. The 2-day exhibition was the perfect opportunity to find out about how the NHS is working to stay ahead of the curve. We shared best practice and chatted about the digital future of our national health service with the delegates that came and visited our stand.

There was a very nostalgic feel to the expo too, the #NHS70 Hub focused on the evolution of the NHS and how it’s progressed over the past 70 years, as explained by the longest-serving NHS patron, Ethel Armstrong. Very heart-warming!

Other key event highlights included the much-anticipated talk from the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, who revealed his predictions for the NHS and how services will be progressing to better patient journeys and improvement for frontline NHS staff. He confirmed our discussions around the future of health being digital.

We had some great feedback about our stand, all thanks to the amazingly talented Harley and the rest of the design team who offered a creative hand, the stand sure did look top notch. The creative flair of the stand and rolling animations on screen really complimented the team’s enthusiasm about the projects we have been working on over the past year.

Did you go to the expo or do you work in the healthcare sector? If you need some advice about the best ways to promote your service, need innovative ideas or need a helping hand with your digital challenges, drop us a line at healthcare@bluestepsolutions.com or give us a call. Our healthcare boffs would love to have a chat with you!

The roads are full of dedicated runners in high vis and head torches, the UK is experiencing a shortage of spinach (yes, that’s really happening!), and there’s a bake sale on every corner…it must be marathon season!

This year, I finally landed myself a place running for a charity that’s close to my heart - Sue Ryder.

As a bit of a fitness freak already, I didn’t think twice about applying, but now it’s less than 15 weeks away and I’m still recovering from the Christmas/New Year slump, reality is sinking in! It’s not just the physical demand but, mentally, I’m struggling to prepare myself for the distance. 26.2 miles! At my current pace that’s about 4.5 hours of running! My stomach’s in knots as I write this…

But as marathon newbie, I’m still tainted with the naïve innocence of a “it can’t be that bad” attitude. I mean, people go back and do it again, don’t they?
(I suspect I’ll feel differently on the 18th mile….)

Anyway, I’ve become a bit of a marathon geek as of late, reading up on everything and anything I can get my hands on. A marathon diary, a marathon journal, a Pinterest board… you name it, I’ve got it. And I feel it’s only fair I share some of this new-found knowledge!

Training schedule

Working full time, I’ve had to really prioritise my training. I take a non-negotiable approach. My friends, family and boyfriend know that my long runs happen on a Sunday and a Thursday; rest days are Wednesday and Fridays. It sounds selfish but once you have that discipline instilled, it’s so much easier to stick to your schedule. A few little slips here and there are inevitable, and it’s important to have a bit of flexibility (you can’t expect your mum to cancel her birthday because it collides with your long run…), so if you’ve got a big event on a Saturday night, shift your schedule a bit that week and do your long run on Saturday morning rather than Sunday.

Something else I’ve learnt from my fellow runners is to mix up your training by implementing some hill sprints and interval training. Run after run after run can take its toll on your body. Interval training and hill sprints will build up the strength in your legs, making those long runs feel so much easier.

Food prep!

I tend to do my running in the evenings after work. I don’t actually mind a morning workout, but I much prefer having the time to warm up/cool down properly, and enjoy a nice warm bubble bath after a run. One thing I can’t face afterwards though, is cooking…

I’ve taken to preparing large portions of nice and stodgy, marathon friendly food, that I can either throw in the oven whilst I’m out running, or quickly heat up in the microwave after to feed those hungry muscles. Here are some of my go tos:

Lasagne/cottage pie

Lean steak mince, loads of veg, and lots of cheese! Cook up a big batch and freeze your portions and you have all the nutrition you need after a long, hard run.

Jacket potatoes

Cheap, easy, nutritious carbs. Load up with tuna mayo, baked beans or Mexican chilli. These can be popped into the oven before a run. Rub a little olive oil and salt and pepper on before for an extra crispy skin. A lovely warming meal to come home to.

Pasta, of all kinds!

Fresh, egg pasta is a favourite of mine as it takes absolutely no time at all to cook. Just boil up in 5 mins! Although, I have started preparing a batch of either turkey meatball, or sausage pasta on a Sunday, which I can portion and heat up quickly when I get in from a run. This can be enjoyed cold too!

On the day

Chafing

I read somewhere that Vaseline will be your best friend on the day. Rub Vaseline on any part of your body that touches another part. You’ll thank me later, I promise!

Sports drinks

You should actually start drinking these about 2 -3 days before marathon day, to ensure your electrolyte stores are well topped up!

Carb loading

Don’t overdo it! There’s nothing worse than running on a full stomach. Eat what has worked for you in the past, and remember, overeating is just as bad as undereating.

Trainers

Wear the trainers you have been wearing to train in (or completed at least 3-4 long runs in). Don’t think it’s a good idea to save a new pair for the day. You never know how your feet will react and the last thing you need is to contend with nasty blisters!

Those of you who already know Bluestep will know that the Outdoor and Education sector is a core part of our services. Currently providing product and merchandise solutions for 45% of the UK’s outdoor and education centres, the workload has been increasing and demanded an extra hand. In October last year, we took on account manager, Sarah Kilgannon to help manage those extra projects.

The team have been up and down the country visiting some of the nation’s most loved and well known tourist attractions and leisure centres, focusing on promotional and retail items. Our plush toy orders are already on the rise and we’re excited about what Summer 2017 has to bring in the way of tourism and leisure. So, there could be big changes for the sector this year. Keep an eye out for new and exciting case studies and blog posts! Remember, our Outdoor and Education team work with a bespoke online stock management system to help with efficiencies and fluidity of stock control and ordering. If you would like to see how we fare in the way of products, give one of our friendly team members a shout and they’ll be happy to discuss rates and stock management with you.

The approaching new year symbolises a time to reflect, show gratitude, appreciation and make goals for the next year…
So to say our goodbyes to what has been a fantastic year, we’ve put together a list of the top ten memories from 2016.

1) London Charity Softball

Bluestep sponsored the London Charity Softball team and supported the event by providing the branded kits and marketing collateral ahead of the event. The Bluestep team showed an appearance with a fully stocked sandwich stall, helping to feed the hungry players post-match. On a hot summers day, we ended the night with a few bevvies together in Hyde Park. A great day which deserves to be up here as one of our top memories of 2016.

2) Bluestep Bake Off

Shockingly competitive, the Bluestep Bake off saw the team go head to head in a bid to become the Star Baker. Each week we saw three bakers slave away in the kitchen to create their culinary masterpiece. Chocolate, banana, coffee, shortbread, scones…we had it all. Despite all of the tasty treats, a sour taste was left in our mouths (not just from Ben’s coffee cake) when it became apparent someone had used shop-bought pastry which lead to a disqualification from the final!

3) New employees

Since the beginning of 2016, we’ve seen ten new starters walk through the doors of Bluestep. All to fill new roles which have been created as a result of our increased workload. Since the office is getting pretty cosy, we’ve decided to expand our office into the next unit to make room for even more Bluesteppers in the new year!

4) Bluestep Summer BBQ

It seems like a distant memory now, but remember that scorcher of a week we had back in July? The boys set up a disposable BBQ in the courtyard and we finished off the hottest week of the summer with burgers and some ice cold bevvies. Bring on #Summer2017

5) NHS Expo ‘16

Bluestep’s healthcare team took a road trip up to Manchester back in September to host our own stand at the NHS Innovation Expo ’16. Designed by the very talented Becca Tyler, the stand was a huge success. We shared insight and spoke to a whole host of NHS professionals and stakeholders, absorbing as much as we could from all the talks and events. It was full on, but our energetic team kept up by fuelling up on all the free sweets!

6) Bluestep’s 6th Birthday

Possibly one of the biggest milestones – our 6th birthday! Who’d have thought six years how Bluestep was comprised of Ben, his kitchen table, a landline phone and a stapler? Amazing how much you can achieve with sheer determination and ambition.

7) Redecorating

One late night for the team and a fresh new look for the office. Rather than pay for a painter, we thought it’d be a fun, team building activity to just chip in and do it ourselves! There were laughs, there were arguments and there were spillages, but we’re pretty proud of our lush new office.

8) Seminars

Ben started to identify everyone’s individual talents and realised that a lot of the team were bringing additional skills to their role and further improving the company. Although the team were dubious about presenting in front of their peers, Ben finally persuaded us to start giving monthly seminars which have actually proven to be a lot of fun! We’ve shared some of our knowledge in our blog ‘Bluestep Seminars’, if you fancy some insight.

9) Charity Brochure …hot off the press

The highly-anticipated charity brochure was one of our most chopped and changed internal projects! In a bid to ensure it was absolutely perfect, it was in and out of the studio more times than we can count. Ten final, final proofreads later and we were finally happy to send it to print. Hot off the press, it was better than we had envisaged and we hope our clients have found it a useful reference for all of our offerings!

10) Secret Santa

And finally, the most recent, festive highlight. Ben receives a giant German sausage for Secret Santa…don’t ask.

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve had a new buddy in the office recently.

Inca has been helping us out recently with a list of admin, housekeeping and tea making chores to give her a brief introduction to life in the office. To help us monitor the effectiveness of her stay at Bluestep we asked her to keep a log of her time, and since it was so brilliant, we decided to make it this week’s blog post:

09.00: They’re all complaining about traffic when they arrive this morning, but I’m not sure what that is. I loved my journey in. I love going in the car. Especially when I can stick my head out the window.
10.00: CHRISTY THREW SOMETHING! Please do it again, human!

11.15: Been brought into the meeting room to discuss what types of biscuits to order this month. I said Pedigree chums but they went for Hob Nobs. They said I’m not allowed the chocolate ones, things got a little hairy.

12.00: Chased my tail for 30 minutes, until I got hounded by the boss again…

12:30: Woofles for lunch, yum!

13.00: SOMEONE DROPPED CHICKEN ON THE FLOOR!

14.05: Sarah’s showing me how to make a spreadsheet. I’m thinking, why can’t I grab the little arrow moving about on the screen??

15.15: The man with the drawings on his arms. I like him best. I gave him a kiss and everyone laughed. So I did it again. I’m not sure he liked it.

15:30: Maybe I can I win him over with a gift…

16.00: SOMETHING FLEW PAST THE WINDOW!

16.10: I’m bored now, can I go and run around the car park?

17.00: Hey, where’s my toy?

17.05: THERE IT IS!

17:25: Pawformance review – didn’t go well. Man that was ruff.

Was it a profound moment of mental clarity that led our MD to choose this almost household name, or an unprecedented set of circumstances that led fate to make the decision for him? The name’s even been adapted these days to affectionately refer to our colleagues as our trusty Bluesteppers.
So how did Ben come up with the name, Bluestep?

Take our multiple-choice quiz and test your Bluestep knowledge...

A. The business was actually first registered under the name ‘Skindawg Cooperations’, but after business took off and the team moved into a converted barn office (painted bright blue), they decided to give the business a reputable and professional name and came up with Bluestep.

B. Our MD Ben has a wardrobe to rival Steve Jobs’. Every morning, he decides whether to wear his blue chinos, his pale blue chinos or his mid-blue chinos. For special occasions, he has a pair of dark blue chinos. Usually, he settles on a nice pair of blue chinos and a white shirt. It only seemed right that with the number of steps taken wearing blue chinos, the business should be rightly called Bluestep.

C. After dressing up as smurfs to compete in a charity sporting event, Harry and Ben checked their Fitbits the next day and realised they had taken a combined 54,798 steps over the weekend: the equivalent of a marathon. They soon took on the nickname ‘the Bluesteppers’ and after working together closely before business took off, made the combined decision to name the business Bluestep.

D.‘Blue’ – calming, reassuring, steady, reliable. ‘Step’ – progress, moving up, moving forward, growth. Ben combined the two words to create Bluestep as he felt the meaning behind it illustrated his thoughts about how he wanted to portray his business. BS also happens to be his initials!

Think you’ve worked out the answer? Send your answers to our social media platforms and you could be in with the chance of winning a *prize!

As 3 Blue Steppers took down the 4 foot tall panels in the Manchester Central Convention Centre, we were able to breathe a sign of relief; the NHS Health & Care Innovation Expo went pretty smoothly (despite a few minor bumps in the road & a case of food poisoning).

We spent a fair few fun filled hours planning the creative, organising bits & bobs then making the journey from Northampton to Manchester & back, so we thought we would share a photo blog with you so you can see the kind of stuff we got up to over our 3 days up north.
After Becca had finished her designs for the 8 panels, we sent these to Studio 1, a great local printer who were kind enough to let us go down and take a look at our work being created in the flesh (it was ply board really).

It was a tense moment as we waited for the printers to churn out the boards.

After we loaded up the van with the panels and a mountain of sweets for the journey, we headed up the M6 towards Manchester, taking a few wrong turns on the way. When it came to the team putting up the panels, there were no tantrums or tears and we set up our spot in the convention with success.

Day 1

The team were up bright & early, coffee in hand ready for a day of networking & expo fun. Christy looking enthusiastic outside Manchester Central.

Here’s the team on day 1, looking fresh-faced on the stand.

The girls took a little time off the stand to nosey around the centre; get involved with a few of the exhibitions and trial some of the products on show.

The girls dropped by a shoebox which housed The Empathy Museums’ exhibition ‘A Mile in my Shoes’, read more about it here: http://www.empathymuseum.com/

The colourful Camp Expo space saw the walls illustrated with visual answers to one central question: “What is your dream for a healthy nation?”.

The team were able to catch the choir sing some pretty moving songs & were given some lovely cupcakes by the event organisers.

Maybe the girls had one too many sweets… sugar high much?

After a good sleep and were ready to rock & roll again for day 2.

If you saw any of the Healthcare team over the course of the two days, why not drop us a line. We would love to hear from you and find out how you found the expo.

You may have heard of the campaign. It’s one of the largest healthcare promotions that happens during the colder months and it’s all centred around ways to stay healthy and fight off those nasty colds we all try to keep clear of.

The healthcare team have been pretty fortunate in having had the chance to deliver some fantastic awareness projects for the Stay Well This Winter campaign. We’ve been shouting far and wide, up and down the U.K, running digital promos and giving away lots of goodies to encourage people to find out how they can stay healthy when the temperature gauge plunges.

We’ve pulled together a little snapshot into the projects we’ve delivered, take a look…
Last year we teamed up CCGs to cover cities and towns with our public engagement sessions. The outreach team were dotted all over, here and there to reach out to as many people as possible. We stood in cold and windy tube stations at rush hour, we went to supermarkets during the peak Christmas shopping madness, we even went into work places telling people why they should get their flu vaccines. Over the course of a few months we went to more than 170 venues, spoke to 1000s of people and collected some very valuable info that’ll help with campaigns to come. So, you could say the project was a success!

We’ve also delivered a few digital promo campaigns for Stay Well too. A London based CCG wanted to tell people, borough wide about how they can get their flu jabs. We set to work, running ads over Google Display and Facebook which clocked up 11,000 plus visits to the Stay Well This Winter website and more than 1.5 million (yes million!) people saw the ads. Pretty impressive ey?!
With these kinds of results, it’s easy to see why more businesses than ever are choosing to go digital and communicate online.

Winter 2016 is around the corner; we’re dosing up on our vitamins and digging out our thermals to gear up for some more Stay Well This Winter public engagement events. We’ll be on our travels, heading up north to Walsall, Rugby and Coventry to talk about ways you can stay fit and healthy when it’s baltic outside! So if you’re local to these areas and see the team, make sure to stop and say hi (the team are a very friendly bunch).

Healthy Mind, Healthy Body

We all know by now that a healthy body equals a healthy mind. And with the growing wellness trend that’s flooding our social media feeds, gyms and supermarkets, it’s hard to escape the dawning reality that maybe those mid morning digestives might be better replaced with a banana...

We’ve put together some ideas for how you and your team can implement some healthy habits into your working day!

Nutrition

Office fruit bowls.

Dot fruit bowls around the office and top them up weekly, or twice weekly with a variety of fresh, colourful fruit. If it’s there, you’re more likely to grab a piece of fruit rather than head for the biscuit tin.

A communal blender

In your shared kitchen (as long as cleaned properly after usage) is a great way to encourage staff to have a healthy breakfast or snack. Some people can’t stomach a solid breakfast first thing, but skipping breakfast leads to a dip in concentration and a slow, sluggish metabolism.

A smoothie

Maker is a great option.

Swap things

Like crisps and chocolate for raw veggies. Not doing for ya?

How about adding a nice dip

Such as organic peanut butter, hummus or cottage cheese. It’ll fill you up much better and keep blood sugar levels steady until your next meal.

Sweet tooth

If you have a sweet tooth, dried fruit and dark chocolate are great substitutes for sweeties.

Water!

Make sure you constantly have a large glass or bottle of water at your desk that’s regularly topped up throughout the day. Sometimes thirst is mistaken for hunger, but keep hydrated will ensure you’re not just eating for the sake of it.

Exercise

Exercise Walk, run, cycle to work (if you can). This is the easiest option. And by strategically fitting exercise into the time you’d usually take the commute to work, it makes it much easier to keep up the habit. You’ll feel revitalised and refreshed afterwards, and it’s a great way to wind down at the end of your working day, and better for you than that large glass of Pinot Noir… If that’s not an option for you, try parking further away from the office than usual, or if you take the bus or train, get off at an earlier stop and walk.
Take 15, 20, 30 or even 60 minutes at lunch to go out and walk!

Explore

Explore your surroundings, walk around the shops. Just get up and out of your chair.

Sitting at a desk all day

Sitting at a desk all day is extremely detrimental towards your overall physical health.
Take the stairs. Avoid lifts and escalators at all costs. If you have working legs, use them – you’re lucky! Set a timer.

30 minutes

Every 30 minutes get up from your desk and walk about, do the tea round, go to the bathroom. Anything to stretch your legs and get your blood pumping.
Get up, and talk to other colleagues rather than calling them, particularly if they’re only in the next room!