A new scheme aims to support people to better manage their health and wellbeing by connecting up social prescribing and fitness and leisure activities in local communities. 

ukactive, NHSE/I, Sport England and the National Academy for Social Prescribing will work together to identify an initial pledge of 500,000 hours of activity in the first year of the scheme, and make this available for no cost via the social prescribing services being rolled out across England. 

People will need to be referred by a Social Prescribing Link Worker in order to access the scheme and it is expected that up to 100,000 people could benefit from the free gym and leisure sessions.

The commitment will ensure that the fitness and leisure sector is better integrated within the healthcare system. It is expected that the scheme will be negotiated on a local level, with a national rollout from 1 April 2021, with a number of advanced Primary Care Network sites ready to offer this scheme to local residents in the new year. 

Social prescribing helps by connecting people to community support based on what matters to them, and helps to address issues affecting their health and wellbeing. Working alongside GPs, Social Prescribing Link Workers connect people to activities such as fitness groups, swimming, walking, dancing, running, or gardening groups, depending on what the person is most interested in and what will of benefit them. 

The new partnership comes at a crucial time – while people have become more aware of the benefits of physical activity for their personal health, physical activity has declined during the pandemic, as shown by recent data from Sport England.

“This partnership is a great opportunity for the fitness sector to play a crucial role in helping the country’s health, with the facilities and highly trained staff ready to partner with the NHS where needed,” said Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive. 

“This is a real opportunity to see what is working and what we can replicate to make physical activity part of the solution to improve people’s quality of life.”

The landmark partnership will begin by working in several advanced sites within England to identify best practice and learn how to up-scale this approach across England so that it reaches people most at risk of health inequalities. The sites will also explore the potential of small personal health budgets attached to social prescribing. 

ukactive will raise awareness of social prescribing and facilitate links with healthcare, demonstrating how its members can best provide local solutions. It will achieve this by highlighting existing best practice to health commissioners and by building sustainable fitness and leisure industry-led physical activity interventions.