Evaluation of the Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks for Wales

An external evaluation of the Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks for Wales took place from September 2008 to March 2009 and has now been published.

The Wales Centre for Health now part of Public Health Wales has responsibility for the co-ordination of four key topic based national public health networks:
The All Wales Sexual Health Network
The All Wales Mental Health Promotion Network
The Nutrition Network for Wales
The Physical Activity Network for Wales.

The Wales Centre for Health commissioned an evaluation of the networks both to measure the effectiveness of the networks to date, and to shape their potential development in the future. The comprehensive evaluation- completed in March 2009- involved a range of methods including telephone and face to face interviews, surveys, focus groups and desk top research. Wavehill Consulting conducted the evaluation and surveyed and interviewed over 600 network members and stakeholders. 

Overall the report concludes that the networks have been successful in achieving their stated outputs and there are very high levels of satisfaction with members being consistently positive about the information provided by the networks.

Malcolm Ward, Network Manager at the Wales Centre for Health said, “The networks have been running for varying amounts of time but their use and structure has not been evaluated.

“I was delighted with the results of the evaluation which will prove helpful in identifying the future development of these important networks. I was particularly pleased with the report conclusions that the networks are clearly very important on a strategic level and provide good value for money.”

The report identified areas for improvement and potential growth with most of the recommendations already being developed or implemented.

The Network Team would like to thank the Advisory Boards and all members of the Networks who participated in the evaluation.

 

Download an executive summary of the report

Download a full copy of the report

For further advice or information relating to the evaluation or any other aspect of the networks’ please contact the project team.