Sport England: opportunities for physical activity in the 10 Year Health Plan

Strategic lead for health and wellbeing policy Tom Burton reflects on the government’s new plan to improve the health of the nation and how we can capitalise on it to get everyone more active:

It’s been just over a month since the 10 Year Health Plan was published – a key milestone in the government’s commitment to create an NHS fit for the future.  

It’s taken me time to navigate the headline ambitions, shifts in language, structural implications and, critically, what this all means for physical activity. There are 160 pages to get through, after all… 

There’s lots to unpick and this post from the Medical Consulting Group includes a visual that usefully summarises the key points.

For patients, it’s a positive and empowering tone, underpinned by a digital revolution and receiving care closer to home.  

With Neighbourhood Health a cornerstone of the Plan and elected mayors playing a greater role in prevention, combined with Local Government Reorganisation and Devolution, this all presents big opportunities to align with Sport England’s investment into communities that need it most.
 

To what extent does physical activity play a role?

Well, there were multiple references, including: 

• The health and economic impact, tackling inequalities through cross-system join-up and recognising poor access to sport and recreation is a root of sickness. 
• Our £250 million place-based investment; a £400m investment into community sport facilities, new partnerships on school sport; a £616m investment into active travel; and an important reference to local health plans.
• A new campaign to motivate millions more to walk and run more every day. 
• A new annual process, modelled on the UK City of Culture, to name the most physically active community. 
• Expanding the role of incentives in lifestyle change. 
• The Department for Culture, Media and Sport providing more information on the strategy for physical activity in due course. 
   

Since publication, much commentary has reflected that the Plan could have gone further in utilising physical activity’s preventative powers.

It’s true: the evidence and opportunity for impact at scale are significant. I have two glass-half-full thoughts on this:

1. This Plan feels like it goes further on physical activity than any previous national NHS/health strategy. Whilst we can go (much) further, this is progress to build upon.
    
2. Rather than considering ‘potential’ purely through physical activity’s reference, there are numerous levers throughout the Plan to capitalise upon. We’ve learned that framing physical activity’s role in supporting wider, shared outcomes is key – whether that be tackling health inequalities, preventing and managing multi-morbidity, falls/frailty or social isolation… the list goes on.
    

So, what next?