I am pleased to report this month that we have been making great progress in our efforts to engage with the government on physical activity and the relevance of our specialty in ‘prevention and public health’.

Following a meeting with the Department for Culture Media and Sport to discuss the detail around the delivery of Sporting Future – A New Strategy for an Active Nation, we discussed the difficulties around a doctor referring to an exercise professional not knowing what level of qualification they have. The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity CIMSPA is the organisation tasked with the accreditation and competence of exercise professionals and our Council will be engaging with them this month.

The ultimate goal is to enable closer ties between doctors and the exercise industry and enable doctors, who are prescribing exercise, to have greater awareness of and access to the right level of services. A great example of integration between GPs and community services, including registered exercise professionals qualified to help specific conditions, is included in a recent NHS announcement of an Integrated Neighbourhood Care Team CCG award, which our Lay Adviser, Elaine Stott, will help to deliver as an Active4Life instructor, part of the Link4Life service in Rochdale Borough.

Other initiatives the Faculty has been involved in have also borne fruit, with the announcement in the recent budget of a sugar levy now planned to raise around £520m for school sports. As part of the Obesity Health Alliance, the FSEM welcomes this announcement, you can read the full statement on our news page.

Our Physical Activity Assessment Working Party is in the process of securing a UK wide 3 year physical activity and Lifestyle Clinical Priority project with the RCGP. The objective of the project is to deliver educational resources on physical activity assessment and prescription to GPs and patients via clinical champions.

Sport and Exercise Medicine Training places remain high on our agenda as we continue to engage with organisations like Health Education England to discuss both post graduate and undergraduate SEM training.

As always, we appreciate our members’ continued support of the Faculty and if you have any comments or thoughts on our work to support and grow the specialty of Sport and Exercise Medicine you can email enquiries@fsem.ac.uk

Dr Paul D Jackson, President of the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine