A new report calls for, “a single-minded focusing of resources, energy and policy to turn the tide of physical inactivity” in the UK.
UK Active’s Blueprint For An Active Britain sets-out clear policy recommendations to help arrest the trend of physical inactivity and get the nation moving.
This document sets out a combined vision of activity embedded in every aspect of daily life: from being fully ingrained into the care pathways of specific conditions, through to a radical reimagining of where we work, where we live and how we travel.
UK Active’s campaign has received the backing of a broad coalition of stakeholders such as the Royal Society for Public Health, Royal College of General Practitioners, Mind, Dame Carol Black, Professor the Lord Darzi and many more.
Key recommendations detailed within the Blueprint include:
• Physical activity should be prioritised, from 2016, as a top-tier, standalone health issue in the annual letter sent by the Department of Health outlining Public Health England’s remit.
• Physical activity should be fully incorporated into all relevant care pathways in the NHS, with a Community Exercise Professional (CEP) placed in every GP surgery to support people at risk of preventable ill-health to achieve the Chief Medical Officer’s Physical Activity Guidelines.
• Government should greatly scale-up its collaboration with the Physical Activity sector via the creation of an Industrial Strategy.
• Further evidence into a standardised baseline measure for children’s fitness should be commissioned, with the view to eventually extend the National Child Measurement Programme to measure it.
• A workforce development strategy for the physical activity sector should be created, leading to the establishment of a Chartered Physical Activity Professional.
Commenting on the Blueprint, James Allen, Head of Policy at the Sport and Recreation Alliance said, "We strongly agree for the need for physical activity to be significantly higher on the Government’s list of priorities. We particularly support calls for a more consistent and committed approach to seeing activity and exercise through sport and recreation within the NHS – we know that if exercise is a viable prevention, treatment and management option for a huge range of conditions. Getting the nation more active would make a huge difference to our health, wellbeing and quality of life and as well as that would also significantly reduce the huge cost of preventable ill health."
UK Active unveiled the Blueprint For An Active Britain at its National Summit on 5 November.
To read the full report and recommendations made, click here.
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