Lord Oates – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-05-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges in February 2015, Exercise: The miracle cure and the role of the doctor in promoting it, and how that assessment has informed their policy making.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The evidence and messages in the report of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges align with the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) guidelines for physical activity and Public Health England’s physical activity framework ‘Everybody Active Every Day’ both of which highlight the key role of health professionals in promoting physical activity.
The Government is committed to raising awareness of the UK CMOs guidelines and the benefits of physical activity amongst the public and health professionals. The CMO recently launched a new infographic specifically designed to help health professionals to discuss the benefits of physical activity with their patients. The Government also has in place a range of other programmes to support doctors in the promotion of physical activity. These include e-learning modules on physical activity and health, undergraduate training resources for medical, nursing and allied health professionals and Public Health England’s Clinical Champions Programme. Physical activity is also embedded in NHS’s risk reduction services such as NHS Health Checks and the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.
