Nuffield and Manchester Met to ‘rewrite chronic health management’

Manchester Metropolitan University and Nuffield Health are partnering to launch a programme which uses fitness and movement to help people with chronic health conditions.

The partnership will deliver a clinically-assured, exercise-based approach to improving health outcomes for people living with a range of long-term conditions.

The pioneering, three-year research partnership will combine Nuffield Health’s – the UK’s largest healthcare charity – expertise in community-based rehabilitation with Manchester Met’s leading research in sports and exercise medicine. The partnership builds on existing research which demonstrates the significant role fitness professionals can play in managing health conditions. For instance, Nuffield Health runs a series of rehabilitation programmes for conditions including joint pain, long-COVID and cardiac episodes.

The initial pilot will operate from a community hub in Platt Lane, Manchester – an area chosen to address health disparities linked to social inequality, enabling the programme to make a meaningful impact in an area with higher levels of deprivation.

A key feature of the programme will focus on sustained engagement through a peer-mentoring model, fostering long-term behaviour change and a sense of community.

Central to the programme’s success will be the use of personal trainers – which the partners describe as a “highly-qualified, huge and largely untapped workforce for supporting chronic conditions”.

To ensure consistent, quality delivery, the partnership will establish sustainable training pathways for fitness professionals, providing a standardised approach to upskill them in delivering community-based rehabilitation.

According to the plans announced recently, the partners aim to scale the new programme to a national level by the end of 2027.