Mike Farrar: “Physical activity holds key to saving the NHS and economy”

The government should “deploy the physical activity sector urgently” to help save the NHS and tackle the UK’s pandemic of poor health and sluggish economy.

That is the message from Mike Farrar, Chair of ukactive and former CEO of the NHS Confederation.

Speaking at the Active Uprising conference in Westminster on 1 February, he warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer there would be “no growth without health” and that any future government must make physical activity a central part of its health and economic strategies.

Farrar said: “We are currently losing the battle for the nation’s health, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I’m today calling on our party leaders, as a matter of urgency, to deploy the physical activity sector to help save the NHS and turbocharge the economy.

“The road to a better NHS, a healthier workforce and a happier Britain lies at the heart of every community – in our nation’s gyms, pools and leisure centres. Physical activity is one of our best weapons in the battle with sickness and disease. The evidence is irrefutable – put physical activity in your strategy.”

A quarter (25.8%) of the population in England is classed as inactive (averaging less than 30 minutes of exercise a week).

Farrar’s message comes as ukactive revealed new findings from its Consumer Engagement Polling with Savanta, showing that more than a fifth (21%) of people with a health condition would rather receive support for their condition in a gym or leisure facility over a hospital setting.