INTERVIEW In future, could gyms take on
responsibility for physical activity programming in local parks?
reached over 200,000 people through two weekends of open days across its estate. “A monumental achievement,” says Fenton. “Partnerships and co- production enable us to use unique networks. Working with ukactive is a vital part of that.” And he’s excited about recent
developments – in particular, the call from ukactive chair Fred Turok to establish a national ambition to turn the tide on physical inactivity. At the ukactive Summit in November 2013, Turok called for an ambition to reduce inactivity by one per cent year-on-year for five years – a goal that would save the UK £1.2bn. “It’s hugely helpful for us to be
ambitious,” says Fenton. “Social movements need drivers from outside of government. Look at what the First Lady Michelle Obama has done with her Let’s Move campaign in the US. National leadership can mobilise a movement, inspire and provide direction.” Clearly there’s the political will.
Speaking ahead of the Summit, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Turning the tide of inactivity is essential to the health of our nation. I am delighted to support ukactive and its drive for making sure physical activity becomes part of the DNA of our country. Getting more people, more active, more often reinforces our drive to deliver a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
“The fact that there’s not a single national strategic framework or strategy for tackling inactivity has to be seriously questioned”
And a recent internal briefing
circulated across Whitehall suggests there’s intent to really push this forward, with the Prime Minister making a personal intervention to generate greater levels of initiative across government. This will no doubt be music to Fenton’s
ears, as he wants to go even further. Picking up on the fact that there are various national ambitions – UK Sport’s goal to achieve gold medals, the Sport England-backed wish to grow the number of people playing 1 x 30 minutes of sport a week, and now the challenge set out by Turok to reduce inactivity by one per cent a year – Fenton says: “We need to align the ambitions in this space. Are we agreed that these are our goals? If so, how do we leverage our resources, measure our progress, reward success, support those falling behind? What are the practicalities and what are the commitments we need to make to get cross-sector support?” The need for this level of clarity
Exercise can help promote a healthy old age and ease the burden on the NHS
to inform PHE’s plans led to Fenton calling a ‘Physical Activity Caucus’ of 200 stakeholders, which took place on 24 January 2014 – a bid to drive co- ordination across the entire spectrum of the UK’s physical activity sector, uniting the themes of active travel, sport, play, leisure, fitness and healthcare, all within a joint strategic framework. ukactive timed the release of its first
inactivity-focused report – Turning the Tide (see
www.ukactive.com/ turningthetide)– to provide the backdrop to the event.
36 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital “I want to see real progress in each
of those areas over the next five years, with increased levels of activity, reductions in levels of inactivity and an increased awareness that physical activity is a core component of a healthy life,” Fenton explains. For now, however, making the case
for physical activity is something we’re failing at, according to Fenton: “We simply are not connecting the dots. That dementia can be prevented by an active lifestyle, or managed once you have it through an exercise programme. That activity improves educational attainment. That an active lifestyle can dramatically improve mental health, where we have one in four people struggling with real challenges. We have to get the fact that physical activity improves your health across loud and clear. Now’s the time to accelerate our actions and impact.”
Local focus As a key part of the 1 April reforms to the health sector, local authorities took over as the lead bodies with responsibility for improving public health – something Fenton is enthusiastic about. “The reforms were the most substantive change and transformation since the creation of the health system. Moving public health to local authorities opens amazing new opportunities to use locally elected leadership to influence public health, by integrating health across all priorities. The role of PHE is to nurture this local system, to help it make a difference.”
February 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
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