What the numbers say about our pop-up clinic pilot – and what’s coming next
Pop-up clinics have been a new feature for Our Future Health in 2025. In February, we launched a pilot scheme that saw a bright yellow van travel to seven different locations, where it offered on-the-spot appointments.
There was no need to book ahead – people could simply sign-up on the spot. The idea? To take health research to the heart of communities.
Historically, some people have been under-represented in health research, such as Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Since launching our programme, we’ve collected feedback highlighting the barriers that can stop people from these communities from participating. We’ve learned about the importance of building trust and making it as easy as possible for people to attend appointments.
By parking our pop-up clinics at convenient locations – and travelling 392 miles around the country in the process – we tried to reduce those barriers. As well as making the appointments easier to access, we deployed a team of staff who could chat with members of the public in an adjacent gazebo.
The team spent their weekends on the ground, answering questions, helping new volunteers, and keeping them warm with complimentary tea and coffee.
So, what did we learn during the pilot? And, crucially, was it successful in helping people from under-represented groups to join Our Future Health?
A clear picture
The numbers provide a clear picture.
We ran our pop-up clinics in areas that have a high proportion of younger people, and people from ethnicities that are historically under-represented in health research.
In total, 722 people joined our programme as part of the pilot. We found that 71% of these volunteers were from minority ethnic backgrounds. That’s substantially higher than the 10% of volunteers from minority ethnic backgrounds in our overall volunteer group who were recruited around the same time.
We also saw more people aged under 40 join Our Future Health at our pop-ups than we saw joining on a country-wide basis. In our overall volunteer group during the same time, 22% were under 40. At our pop-up clinics, that figure jumped to 58%.
54% of volunteers at our pop-up clinics lived in the most deprived areas of the UK, exceeding the 12% who joined in our overall cohort.
‘Building a diverse cohort isn’t just a slogan, it’s a real commitment’
“The statistics from our pop-up pilot show the clear benefit of taking our clinics to the heart of communities,” said Anika Ladva, our Head of Community Engagement.
“By meeting people in person, explaining our programme to them, and offering on-the-spot appointments, we’ve reduced barriers to participation. It means we can ensure everyone has the chance to join Our Future Health.”
Community Engagement Manager Aman Ali helped to staff the clinics as they travelled around the country. “The feedback we had on the ground was really positive,” he said. “We engaged with a lot of people who hadn’t yet heard about Our Future Health, which was a real win.
“Working to build a truly representative and diverse cohort isn’t just a slogan. It’s an important commitment that Our Future Health has made. I believe these pop-ups are a strong example of how we can reach our goals.”
‘This felt like a great opportunity to take care of future generations’
Patience, 57, lives in Manchester. She became an Our Future Health volunteer at our very first pop-up clinic in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens.
“When I saw the clinic here while I was out shopping, it felt like a great opportunity to take care of future generations,” Patience said.
“I was happy to hear about the very nice work Our Future Health is doing in partnership with the NHS, too. We need something like this because we all want to live long and healthy lives for our children, and for them to have a good future and good healthcare.
“I’m feeling happy and grateful to be a part of Our Future Health, so thank you for bringing this clinic to us here.
“I want to encourage other people to sign-up as well. I didn’t know about the programme before this afternoon, but it felt so worthwhile taking a bit of time out of my day to contribute.”
What’s next?
Thanks to the success of the initial pilot scheme, we are happy to share that we will be running more pop-up clinics in the near future.
They’re currently in the works, and we will announce dates, times, and places soon. Watch this space…
In the meantime, you can read more about these clinics in the article below.
Let’s prevent disease together
By volunteering for Our Future Health, you can help health researchers discover new ways to prevent, detect and treat common conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s.