Table 6.

Risks to intervention implementation and potential solutions

Risks	Potential solutions
Discharging of patients can be very quick, giving little time to initiate the intervention while the patient is in hospital	Hospital management consent to a member of the hospital care team visiting the patient in their own home
Capacity issues around hospital care team availability to initiate the intervention while the patient is in hospital and if required, accompany the patient on the first walk	Hospital management agree that the intervention is a priority
Volunteer walk leaders are not interested in participating in the intervention	The charity responsible for the volunteer walking group programme will consult with volunteers before the intervention is rolled out and identify those who are interested
Personal boundaries are not clearly understood	Discussions about personal boundaries with volunteer walk leaders and patients will take place. For example, it will be made clear that the walk leader will only make contact with a patient to describe each weekly walk
Poor transportation in remote and rural areas making it potentially difficult for patients to participate in local walking groups	Contact voluntary transport services
Capacity issues around befriender services in remote and rural areas	None identified