Magna Vitae achieves the Quest for EXCELLENCE!

26 January 2024 / Health & Fitness

Magna Vitae is delighted to announce the Meridian Leisure Centre has achieved an ‘Excellent’ rating from Quest, the leisure industry quality benchmarking scheme endorsed by Sport England.

An excellent plus Quest Award rating places Meridian Leisure Centre in the country’s top 6% of all leisure centres, with only 30 Leisure Centres currently holding an excellent rating following a Quest Plus Assessment.

The Meridian Leisure Centre, operated by Magna Vitae Trust for Leisure & Culture- achieved the maximum possible rating of ‘Excellent’ in December’s Quest Plus assessment, building upon its previous ‘Very Good’ rating. A standard upheld at its other centres, Skegness Pool and Fitness Suite and Horncastle Pool and Fitness Suite, during their October and December 2023 assessments.

The Quest Award recognises consistently high-quality services and standards of cleanliness and customer service. It also acknowledges the team’s commitment to engaging the community and working together to create a welcoming facility that supports everyone to live a great life.

The team at the Meridian Leisure Centre are also celebrating having completed the ‘Tackling Inequalities in Leisure’ standard during the Quest assessment process. A standard that demonstrates the Centre’s commitment to providing a top-class programme of activities accessible to the community’s needs.

Whilst the Horncastle team is jubilant with the news that they achieved the ‘Exercise Referral Standard, ‘ confirming the high quality of operating standards and consistency of service delivery.

The Tackling Inequalities in Leisure standard replaces the Inclusive Fitness Initiative. Co-written by Active Alliances and Quest, the new standard is awarded to leisure operators as a mark of best practice in providing inclusive and accessible facilities and services.

The Exercise Referral Standard is a new accreditation that accesses the delivery of GP exercise referrals and provides leisure operators UK-wide with a quality standards framework that drives continuous improvement.

Aeneas Richardson, Executive Director, Magna Vitae, said:

“WOW!!…. This is truly a momentous result for Magna Vitae.

A superb industry acknowledgement that effectively marks the culmination of more than ten years’ worth of hard work and continuous improvement at our flagship facility, Meridian Leisure Centre, Louth. This is a stunning achievement that the wider Magna Vitae family is incredibly proud of.

Success such as this is only achieved when a whole staff team from top to bottom pulls in one direction to achieve such inspiring outcomes.

It was a thoroughly tremendous success to be applauded by the entire organisation. This completely vindicates Magna Vitae’s role in its broader mission as a Leisure and Cultural Trust leading the way in high quality, community-centred provision, delivered by brilliant and inspiring Teams of people.”

In achieving the accolade, the centres went through a rigorous two-day inspection process that evaluated all aspects of the operations and management, in addition to a mystery visit, whose report glowed with testimony- “I felt that the team genuinely cared about giving a great service!”- Assessor Sarah Lobo, reflecting on her visit to Meridian Leisure Centre in December 2023.

Whilst Clive Douglas was full of praise for the cleanliness of Horncastle Pool and Fitness Suite, which upheld its ‘Very Good’ standard: “I would suggest that you would need a pair of snooker referee’s gloves and a magnifying glass to find any cleanliness issues at this facility. From the moment I left my car to when I returned, I saw no areas needing attention. Great team effort.”

The Quest assessment is a valuable metric, defining industry standards and encouraging best practices across health and well-being services. The comprehensive assessment reviewed the facility’s online and in-venue customer journey, along with its processes for operational management, environmental management, accessibility, sales, and retention. The assessment also reviewed each Centre’s processes for engaging with children 0 to 11 years old and swimming lesson provision.

Naomi Wilkinson-Baker, Director of Operations, Magna Vitae, said:

“We have been going through the Quest process for around 14 years now, and throughout that time, we’ve developed and used the process in the way it’s intended … supporting the teams in continuous improvement. Watching the banding grow from Registered to Good to Very Good and Now excellent is an absolute privilege and honour.

We’ve seen tremendous positive change over the years and more recently faced challenges from Covid’s return to the Energy and cost of living crises. Achieving this at such a crucial time in the leisure industry makes me incredibly proud of the team I work alongside, the community we serve and the charity objectives we achieve. Here’s to maintaining excellence in the future and the following stages of an incredible journey so far.”