London’s Physical Activity for Health Network met this week. Here, Rob McLean, Strategic Lead for Health, gives an overview of the network and this week’s meeting. For more information, please contact [email protected]
Integrating physical activity into London’s healthcare system to prevent and support the management of health conditions is a key priority within our ‘Let’s Move London’ strategy. One of the key challenges within that is to support the ‘health’ and ‘leisure’ sectors to collaborate more effectively.
We believe the ‘London Physical Activity for Health (PAfH) Network’ can play an increasing role in helping to address this challenge by sharing information and opportunities and supporting collaboration between different stakeholders on physical activity for health.
The network, which principally operates via monthly and interim updates and quarterly meetings, is run by London Sport in partnership with colleagues from OHID London and the Association of Directors of Public Health – London. There are currently over 400 colleagues, from across the NHS, Local Authorities and the Voluntary and independent sectors, on the distribution list.
Over 100 people attended the most recent meeting on Weds 29th Jan, which included presentations from Sport England on a review of NICE guidance , NHSE -London and the NW London Integrated Care Board on Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) and Tower Hamlets Council on their work to develop a ‘place based’ approach and use of the Physical Activity Clinical Champions programme as part of this.
As usual we were lucky to benefit from a range of excellent speakers, sharing information that was well received and resulted in enthusiastic discussion. The NICE guidance presentation reminded us of the range of evidence available to support the case for action and investment in physical activity while the item on Integrated Neighbourhood teams introduced this new element of the NHS system and the opportunities it presents for reaching and supporting less active Londoners. Finally, the Tower Hamlets presentation focused on the benefits of developing a ‘Physical Activity Needs Assessment’ and training healthcare professionals and others to provide more support to young people to be more physically active.
Around half of Londoners, experiencing the greatest health inequalities, are not meeting the Chief Leisure Officers’ recommended levels of physical activity and are therefore not receiving the health protection benefits of being active. With more of us, at an ever-younger age, developing one or more Long Term Health Conditions (LTCs), there’s growing recognition of the potential of better integrating physical activity within healthcare services. Colleagues are increasingly interested to investigate the potential of this work and to connect with other with similar aims.
Against this backdrop, we’ve been consulting with PAfH Network members on the future of the Network and how we can develop its services and functionality to better support our collective work. We’re currently working to respond to this feedback and look forward to reporting back on the changes we’ve made. We hope to welcome more Network members in 2025 and beyond, to facilitate greater collaboration and ultimately to support more Londoners to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of being more active. Watch this space…
You can find out more about London Sport’s Health work here
