Together we can build an Olympic health legacy

I am still on a high following the great success of the FIA & IMSPA Industry Summit: Winning in 2012 and Beyond, which was held at the Congress Centre in central London this week.

Over 350 delegates from 241 organisations came to discuss, debate and network with their industry peers, and I am happy to say that the venue was buzzing throughout, as we engaged on the subject of working together as an industry to create a health legacy post 2012 Games.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, we were lucky enough to be joined by a great selection of high-profile guest speakers from the worlds of sport, fitness, politics, medicine and economics.

Highlights of the day included the brilliant John Inverdale, who expertly hosted proceedings, an announcement from the Public Health Minister Anne Milton about the Government’s national ambition for physical activity, and a fascinating talk from the Chief Medical Officer for the Olympics and Paralympics  Dr Richard Budgett, who provided an insight into looking after our athletes as well as our nation’s health during and after the Games.

Also, for the first time at an FIA event we had a Tweet Wall, which was a tremendous hit. Over 200 Tweets were sent in the run up to and during the event with the hash tag #LegacyReady. I hope that you will continue to keep in touch with me and the FIA team using #FIA and #LegacyReady to tell us how you are preparing for 2012.

The theme of partnership was highlighted by all of the speakers, and I look forward to the FIA collaborating with new partners in both the public and private sectors in the New Year. The next twelve months really will be key for establishing priority status for our sector on the political agenda, and we must all work together to achieve this.

With 40 million adults in the UK still not taking part in just one 30 minute session of exercise each week, we really do have our work cut out; but I am game for the challenge, and I hope that you are to.

The feedback on the Summit from those who attended has been extremely positive, and we look forward to welcoming this year’s delegates and plenty of new ones as well to our next Summit and other key events in 2012.

Fitness in Practice – a united approach

What do a bunch of doctors, fitness professionals and a physio talk about when they sit around a table together? It’s agreed, they have a common interest in health and well being but until recently, they rarely spoke with each other, let alone work together to promote them.

We all know that the UK population is getting fatter and sicker because we are inactive. 85% of the population see their doctor at least once a year. The GP has the opportunity to encourage them to be more active but quite often doesn’t have the time to see that they are.

Fitness practitioners have the time, knowledge and skill to do just that. So it makes obvious sense to work together. And this is exactly what the Joint Consultative Forum of the Medical Royal Colleges and the Fitness Sector (JCF) does. It was put together in the early part of 2010 and I am proud to say, it is now a fully independent working group .

For the first time we have a group of doctors, fitness practitioners and a physio who can provide well informed advice to the fitness sector, the health professions and the Department of Health about getting healthy and fit.

It has set itself a very important immediate task; there is strong evidence that exercise can make a big difference to people with chronic illness but there is quite a lot of confusion about what exercise referral schemes are for and how they should function. So the JCF is currently drawing up new standards of professional and operational practice for working with patients. The new standards will be ready by the Autumn of 2011.

The JCF is another example of how the FIA works with other sectors to make things happen and how it brings together the interests of its members and the wider public health.

John Searle
Chief Medical Officer