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.

Reinforcements needed - Supersized (and STRONG) ambulance service

‘Fit and abnormally strong’ are the latest additions to the job spec of the UK ambulance service. Not only so they can respond quickly and tend to the deteriorating health of the nation…. but so they can also transport the obese to hospital. And they WILL need to be taken to hospital…..

I was bemused, if a little concerned this week to hear that the ambulance service have revamped their fleets with heavy duty wheels chairs, stretchers and lifting cushions to transport the ‘larger’ patient to and from hospital. What a sad and somewhat wasteful reflection on the state of the nation’s health and fitness.

Bariatric ambulances have even been introduced into some regions, costing us, the tax payer up to £90,000 a time! And it seems there will need to be more in the pot where that came from - figures point to a 30% increase in hospital admissions for obesity and a 40% increase in bariatric surgery over the last few years.

Surely money would be better spent in prevention as opposed to accommodation?

Treatment and SOLUTIONS versus infrastructure adjustments. Whatever next – larger plane seats, train seats, theatres seats, changing rooms, school desks…? I could go on….

With 24 percent of men and 25 percent of women in the UK now obese, we can’t ignore the problem, but is changing our entire infrastructure really the best solution? Money well spent?

Smoking and alcohol abuse sit alongside obesity as a major cause of disease but we have a smoking ban installed … we have put taxes on alcohol consumption….. THIS is support towards positive behavioural change…. And its working.

Support is key to tackling the obesity problem and our industry is at the forefront of delivering it. The problem is not obesity. The problem is the CAUSE of obesity. I am talking about a lack of physical activity and poor diet. We HAVE to get more people moving and eating better.

We mustn’t sit back and accept the problem…. And we’re not. We are doing great things working with the medical professional through the Joint Consultative Forum, the Government through Change4Life, industry through the Responsibility deal. We have to work together.

Medicine is not the answer. Surgery is not the answer. The solution is at the very heart of our industry. Exercise, diet - energy in and energy out. Support and customer care.

How can we make our offering more appealing to the obese or overweight? Physical activity for all…

The supersized footprint has to stop here.

The fat man of Europe…

Well, that’s what we were called in reports of a study out this week which shows the UK tops the obesity league with the fattest rates across Europe.

While the average obesity rate in the EU is 15.5 percent, Britons are bursting at their belts with one in four of us now classified as obese.

Pulled together by the European Commission and Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, it draws on the evidence and concludes with concerns over the pressures that the situation is putting on healthcare and the wider economy.

It’s something we, as an industry, are well aware of and I am proud to say that we have more responsibility than ever before to do something about it.

We are working closely with the medical profession and have just agreed a Joint Consultative Forum with a number of Royal Medical Colleges and Faculties. Not only will this encourage the use of exercise in both the prevention of ill-health and treatment of disease but will see patients coming through your doors for a prescription of exercise. I think it’s vital that we work together with this sector to develop an evidence base for fitness in the use of ‘exercise as medicine’ and help improve the standards of our training and the skills of our workforce.

And, as you’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, we’re taking a more prominent role with industry, the DH and third sector too, thanks to the appointment of our Chairman, Fred Turok, to serve as Co-Chair of the Physical Activity Network for the Government Responsibility Deal. It allows us, to work together with other sectors such a food, drink and retail to take on the mammoth job of turning the tide on the obesity epidemic and improving the long term health of the nation.

It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to happen over night. But we won’t be sniggered at by the sophisticated French or the slimline Scandinavians any longer. We’re more than ready for it….

Dave Stalker, Executive Director, FIA