Active travel has big role to play in supporting our NHS

By Kate Harding, Strategic Lead for Health Inequalities (GM Moving) | 14 January 2025 | TAGS: health, Active Travel

It was great to see active travel given such prominence in the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report Health in Cities which was released just before Christmas.

If you missed it in the festive rush, there’s a short recap and links available here.

The final weeks of 2024 were busy for several reasons with GM Moving submitting evidence to the NHS 10-Year Plan and an APPG for Walking and Cycling enquiry.

And the link between these pieces of work is stronger than you might think – as Dr Jo Maher highlighted perfectly in the CMO report. She states:

“I have seen how active travel can have a significant role for people: both by moving more and reducing social isolation. Talking about being more active can make a real difference.

“At present opportunities are missed to change behaviour towards a more active lifestyle; awareness and understanding on health benefits of physical activity amongst health care practitioners is not universal.”

This is why you’ll often hear me and GM Moving colleagues say that everyone has a role to play. Inactivity is a complex issue and requires a cross-sector, whole-system approach.

Greater Manchester Moving believe physical activity must be embedded into every aspect of health and care across the life course and we’ve made this case to government.

Active Travel – as Dr Jo rightly highlights – can support this in a number of ways; through a more active NHS workforce as well as more active patients who require health services less often.

Conversations are a great starting point, which is why we support the rollout of Physical Activity Clinical Champions training and Better Conversations support for non-clinical staff.

We’re also working alongside the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) to support as many GP Practices to commit to the Active Practice charter. There’s a similar scheme for Active Hospitals too.

The support is there for the health and care system, and we’ll work with those focusing on walking and active environments to ensure the conditions are in place for active travel.

The GM ICP strategy talks explicitly about the social determinants, or building blocks, of good health and our environment, and moving around it freely, is a key factor.

We all have a role to play. Together, we can create a more active Greater Manchester.