Chaplain Philip Evans recently completed a 100km Cotswold Way walk, inspiring patients to match his impressive step count to help keep them fit.

In the spirit of healthy competition, Philip challenged the team on Meadow ward to match his steps. By the end of the 24-25 June weekend he had achieved 165,167 steps. But the team on Meadow completed a more, reaching 166,186 steps.

Steph Lane, Senior Occupational Therapist, explained: "The ward team on Meadow have been talking with patients about how activity can support with physical and mental health outcomes. The Psychology team raised this as an initiative that the rest of the MDT ran with it. Originally we planned to start tracking our steps throughout July with some fun initiatives to work towards, but when Philip shared with us that he was doing his own challenge, we thought this was a great project for team Meadow to set started with.

"Philip explained to us that his walk would be racking up around 144,000 steps, so team Meadow decided to show our support and walk alongside Philip. We encouraged everybody to track their steps over the course of the weekend, then these would all be added together in hopes to match Philip's steps.

"We sourced some pedometers from the sports and exercise therapy team, and then we spoke to patients about the initiative; I must say, all patients were particularly enthusiastic about supporting Philip and trying to match his step count. I am so proud to share that over the course of the weekend, Philip managed an amazing total step count which exceeded his original prediction, and Meadow managed to just beat this!

"As a team we are so proud of all patients and staff who took part in this particular challenge, and also of Philip for inspiring us to get active. Philip is a massive inspiration for our patient group who regularly talk about the various physical challenges Philip has done, including his cycling challenge last year, and now his step challenge.

"We hope to continue our step challenge throughout the month and longer, and are encouraging everyone on our ward to aim for at least 5,000 steps per day.”