Finalist
COPD ‘Let’s Dance’
Summary of work
Every four minutes, someone with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is admitted to hospital. The condition places immense pressure on the NHS and leaves many people struggling with daily life, often feeling cut off and unsupported.In response, Let’s Dance was launched as a bold, uplifting initiative to educate, connect, and empower people living with COPD. Designed to be delivered in tandem with the COPD SPOTLIGHT Medical Education Roadshow, Let’s Dance provided a joined-up approach between patient engagement and healthcare professional education to drive real-world improvements in COPD care.At the core of Let’s Dance is the concept of “Well-tainment” – one dose of health education blended with one dose of entertainment – to transform passive learning into active participation. With Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas as Ambassador, the programme featured inclusive dance videos tailored to all abilities, encouraging gentle movement, joy, and community. An interactive online COPD assessment tool also helped spark meaningful conversations between patients and their healthcare professionals.A successful three-month pilot in Liverpool, which tested motivational messaging alongside digital, social media, and offline channel performance, generated high levels of engagement with the Let’s Dance content and tools – laying the foundation for national expansion and the 2026 campaign.
Judges’ comments
The “COPD ‘Let’s Dance’” project was innovative and fun. It had impressive metrics, with solid engagement and outcomes. It had a very well described context, with insights into patient needs, key touchpoints and was great to see use of COM-B to segment audience types. The judges look forward to seeing how it could be scaled.
