GM Moving make the case for physical activity in NHS 10-Year Health Plan

By GM Moving | 09 December 2024 | TAGS: Health, GM Moving

Greater Manchester Moving believe physical activity must be embedded into every aspect of health and care across the life course in the developing NHS 10-Year Health Plan.

This belief formed the basis of our organisational response to the government’s consultation on the 10 Year Health Plan for England which closed last week (Monday 2 December).

Colleagues worked closely alongside national partners from NHS Horizons, Sport England, Active Partnerships, and others on the content of the submission.

Our joint aim is to establish physical activity as a crucial component of health and the healthcare system and reiterate the importance of prevention.

We also took the opportunity to establish the role of whole-system and place-based thinking and highlight the crucial role of the VCFSE sector.

Making the case for physical activity:

Physical activity isn't a 'nice to have'. It is essential to health and wellbeing.

Movement is the foundation of good health, wellbeing, and thriving, sustainable communities. But, right now, movement, physical activity, and sport aren’t accessible to everyone.

Movement has been designed out of life.

GM Moving, and Active Partnerships across England, are changing that. We’re creating the conditions for everyone to move more; designing movement back into life.

Telling people to move doesn’t work, nor does blaming, shaming or judging people for their lifestyle choices, it’s about designing movement back into all of our lives, including our health and care system.

We, and our national Active Partnerships network, create the conditions for every single person to be active.

We understand local people, local barriers, and local opportunities. We know how to make change happen, to open up better physical health, mental health, and quality of life.

The growing body of evidence

A thriving country is an active country and Sport England data shows the annual social value of community sport and physical activity is £107.2 billion.

A prevention-powered NHS needs movement at its heart. We’re working in partnership with national and local organisations to make this happen.

Sport and physical activity already creates £10.5 billion in wider savings to the health and social care system a year.

This relieves pressure on the NHS through the prevention of illness, reduced mental health service usage, fewer GP visits and a reduced need for informal (unpaid) care.

Active lives prevent 1.3million cases of depression, 600,000 of diabetes and 57,000 of dementia (the UK’s leading cause of death) – saving billions a year.

Specifically, £540million could be saved on reduced GP visits as well as £780million on reduced mental health service use.

Here, a recent King’s Fund report described Greater Manchester as the ‘poster child’ for devolution in England and a ‘leading light’ in improving population health at scale.

Devolution in Greater Manchester impacted the whole health system and led to improved population health relative to a control group with health improvements partially driven by improvements in the social determinants of health.

Strategic Director for Health, Joe Sarling, said:

“We’re extremely proud of the amazing progress Greater Manchester continues to make in terms of population health which has physical activity, crucially, at its core.

“Only through close, collaborative, and trusted relationships with the Mayor, the GMCA, Sport England, and local partners are we able to achieve these successes.

“We are delighted to be able to share our triumphs with central government, so more areas can benefit but also to outline how we can move further, faster here in Greater Manchester.”

What we hope to see:

1. Movement and physical activity at the heart of the health system to achieve the prevention agenda.
2. A demonstrable commitment to the prevention agenda and the role communities can play in a social model for health.
3. A clear commitment to place-based working, recognising the huge benefits of budgets and decision-making being closer to service users.
4. A whole-system approach to ensure long-lasting behaviour change and wider health benefits.
5. Cross-department, policy, and programme working, recognising the role devolution and associated bodies (e.g. ICSs) play in creating the conditions for healthy lives.