Launch of BEPOP exercise benchmarking programme Wave 3 results
AGE Research Group members celebrated the launch of the Benchmarking Exercise Programme for Older People (BEPOP) Wave 3 report this week, revealing encouraging improvements in the delivery of strength-based exercise programmes for older people across the UK, while also identifying important areas where further progress is needed.
BEPOP is a UK-wide quality improvement initiative delivered jointly by the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, AGILE (part of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy) and the British Geriatrics Society. BEPOP benchmarks NHS physiotherapy services delivering exercise interventions for older people living with sarcopenia and frailty. Through data collection, feedback and shared learning, the programme supports services to improve the effectiveness of resistance exercise programmes and ultimately improve outcomes for older people.
Wave 3 included data from 34 NHS services across the UK and 603 patients, making it the largest data collection to date. Participants had an average age of 82 years, with participating physiotherapy services spanning community rehabilitation, inpatient therapy and older people's outpatient care settings.
The report found several areas of significant improvement compared with the previous audit cycle (Wave 2). The vast majority of patients (89%) received some form of resistance exercise training. The proportion of patients receiving an objective strength assessment before starting an exercise programme increased from 51% to 56%.
The proportion of patients whose resistance exercises were progressed through increased intensity rose substantially from 41% to 68% and strength reassessment during therapy increased from 38% to 44%. The proportion of patients offered onward referral or signposting to ongoing exercise opportunities increased from 44% to 54%.
However, only 41% of patients received diagnostic evaluation for sarcopenia during their therapy programme and many programmes relied predominantly on bodyweight exercises, potentially limiting opportunities for progression and optimal strength gains. Services already engaged with BEPOP outperformed services that were new to BEPOP, indicating that repeated participation and benchmarking may help drive sustained improvements in practice.
Professor Miles Witham, BEPOP Lead and Professor of Trials for Older People at Newcastle University, said:
“Strength training is our best treatment for sarcopenia and frailty, but we know that too many older people do not have the opportunity to receive high-quality, effective strength training programmes. Our findings from wave 3 of BEPOP show that services across the UK are continuing to improve how they deliver strength training for older people living with frailty and sarcopenia. There is plenty still to do, but these results reflect both the success of the BEPOP programme and the hard work that participating teams across the UK are doing to improve the quality of their services.”
BEPOP has now provided participating services with tailored feedback reports and continue supporting improvement through webinars, conferences, educational resources and its growing community of practice. Recruitment for Wave 4 is already underway, with results expected in Spring 2027.
The programme is also expanding its resources, including patient information materials and educational packages for healthcare professionals, to support wider adoption of evidence-based resistance exercise for older people.
Find out more and download the report at: www.bepop.org.uk