‍When Community Classes Met Digital Coaching: What 1,000+ People Taught Us About the Future of Healthcare

What happens when personalised digital coaching integrates directly into community health pathways?

In Sheffield’s priority health areas, average healthy life expectancy dips to just 58.1 years, with physical activity rates lagging behind the city average. To tackle these health inequalities head-on, digital health coaching platform Holly Health partnered with Community Wellness Services (CWS) on a £250,000 Innovate UK-funded initiative.

The goal was to demonstrate how personalised digital health coaching can combine with specialist in person physical activity classes to drive health engagement in higher-need communities. Over 12 months, 1,064 participants joined the project, and the results highlighted the potential of embedding hybrid (human and digital) self-management support into neighbourhood care.

Amplifying Reach Through Smart Pathways

Holly Health’s continuous, 24/7 digital coaching provides individual habit tracking and personalised encouragement. By equipping trusted local CWS instructors to introduce the app directly to participants, we built a bridge between in-person support and daily digital routine building.

• 357 participants signed up via trusted instructors, demonstrating how community relationships accelerate digital adoption.
• 161 digital-first users actively opted into local exercise classes, proving that digital coaching acts as a powerful engine driving people toward real-world social connection.
• 87.6% of participants felt moderately to very confident navigating the app once given a supportive sign-up experience.

Retention for Complex Health Needs

A common health-tech misconception is that digital platforms primarily appeal to the already-fit. Our data showed the opposite: Holly Health saw its highest engagement and retention among people managing complex, chronic health conditions.

• Engagement doubled for complex needs: When retention was assessed at Week 4 after people signed up, retention was at 61.1% among participants managing 4 to 5 long-term conditions, compared to 30.3% for those with none.
• Sustained support for chronic conditions: Users managing systemic health challenges logged the longest ongoing digital usage, including cancer recovery (16.4 weeks average) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (16.2 weeks) - this was when data was assessed 6 months in.

By providing compassionate habit tracking and daily nudges, Holly Health gives users the personal infrastructure needed to help manage health routines at home.

Measured Impact

Combining weekly group classes with daily digital coaching created substantial habit-building momentum, with users logging over 15,154 health habits during the project window.

• Mental Wellbeing Gains (ONS4 Measures):
  
  • +44.1% increase in happiness.
  • +43.4% increase in sense of purpose.
  • -24.5% reduction in anxiety levels.
• Physical & Lifestyle Progress:
  
  • +32.4% increase in weekly moderate exercise hours.
  • +38.9% improvement in dietary relationships with food.
  • 67% of hybrid users successfully formed at least one lasting, automatic new health habit.

While these figures speak for themselves, the personal stories reveal the true real-world impact. In-person class satisfaction reached an exceptional 9.6 out of 10, generating a Net Promoter Score of +63 with zero detractors.

As one participant in their 60s noted:

"I didn't grow up with this technology in any shape or form, and I find it quite easy to use... the things the gym gives me are great, and this is a bit more specific to your own personal needs, so they go hand in hand."

Another participant shared the life-changing impact of rebuilding physical confidence:

"I have Parkinson's and sometimes fall. Prior to taking these classes, I could not get myself back up when I fell. I managed to get up unaided for the first time in about 2 years."

Next Stages of Development

This initiative demonstrated the power of combining Holly Health’s personalised digital coaching with trusted, frontline partners like Community Wellness Services (CWS). Crucially, because the core digital tools, bespoke instructor content, and evaluation framework are already fully built, future regional rollouts direct funding straight into frontline community delivery and local instructors rather than software development.

With project-linked deployments being positioned across Sheffield, Tees Valley, Essex, and Greater Manchester, we are seeing that embedding digital coaching alongside local community providers forms a blueprint that people can get excited about, to help drive scalable, preventive neighbourhood health.

Thank you to CWS, Innovate UK, and every participant who made this project successful.

Partner With Us

Are you a Primary Care Network, ICS leader, or VCSE organisation looking for scalable, proactive lifestyle-health support? Reach out to our team today at hello@hollyhealtyh.io to explore how Holly Health can be integrated alongside your local health providers and community services.

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