fi a update
David Stalker, FIA executive director, shares his thoughts for the future, working alongside the new government
“S
o here’s the New Politics.”
“Here cometh the axe man.” “Let’s get ready for the age of austerity.” Just three of
the commonly used phrases to welcome our new Liberal Conservative government. But how does the new confi guration of power affect the work of the FIA? What’s our refi ned message for these new times? We believe that, by subscribing to our
mission to get ‘more people, more active, more often’, the health and fi tness sector recognises its responsibility to work with government at all levels to create a healthier society. This message remains true whoever forms the party of government.
co-ordinated response
Demand on healthcare is, as we all know, growing exponentially: a result of numerous factors including the challenges posed by obesity, the growth in lifestyle- related conditions and the UK’s ageing demographic profi le. In the medium term, this threatens the viability of a healthcare service that’s free at the point of use. A series of strategies with broad
cross-party support have correctly recognised the strategic national need to rebalance the health service in favour of prevention. What’s missing from this
picture is delivery, and the level of co-ordinated and strategically guided investment – from both government and industry – to bring this about on a suffi cient scale to meet the challenges presented. That’s why we’re calling for a strategic fi ve-year plan between
18
industry and government that will last the length of this parliament. Much of this plan is emerging as a result of the FIA Twenty Ten Commission, which is dovetailing nicely into the new government’s own development timescale. To catalyse the delivery system into
action and to ensure that supply catches up with demographic demand, the FIA is advocating a number of actions for the sector to take in partnership with government, at a local and national level.
action plan
First, industry and government must come together to raise levels of investment in skills within the sector. Employers in the industry are already committed to working with government to jointly invest in addressing skills shortages where they occur, in recruiting new employees not currently in education, employment or training, and in upskilling the current workforce to deal with today’s big issues
news
welcome to the new politics
such as chronic condition management, behavioural modifi cation, and falls and fracture prevention. SkillsActive, our Sector Skills Council, has an enormous brief and the FIA will be working very closely with them to hit the goals. Second, we need to play catch-up in the
provision of health services. We spend less when developing our interventions than the acute or pharmaceutical industries, which are our main competitors in healthcare. We need government to support us in investing in the research and development needed to provide solutions across public health, from cradle to grave, including physical activity, nutrition, smoking cessation and alcohol. Third, we need joint investment in the
collection and analysis of outcomes. The sector has failed to collate the evidence needed to prove the effectiveness of physical activity solutions needed by commissioners of health services. We believe the industry will have to invest in this area, with government, to address this shortcoming. Fourth, we must see increased
investment in programme delivery. We know there’s a desire among operators to deliver on a greatly increased scale than is currently the case. Buoyed by Free Swimming and other challenges that have been thrown their way, operators now have the confi dence to deliver at scale. We need to use national government and industry funds, potentially in match funding, to extract greater levels of national and local funding. We also need to fi nd ways
to encourage the industry to work with the voluntary and community sector to provide the organisational capacity to deliver interventions such as walking programmes. This is where the government’s ‘Big Society’ will make itself known in our sector. Finally, we will be calling for
Cameron and Clegg: Leading the new coalition
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
continued marketing activity to show that being physically active requires only small steps to start, and that it’s normal and positive
june 2010 © cybertrek 2010
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