Doctors will soon be telling patients to 'get on your bike' or 'take a hike' as cycling and walking are to be prescribed by GPs in a health improvement drive announced today.

The pilot scheme to be rolled out later this year aims to cut rates of cancer and heart disease by encouraging people to take more exercise.

It is also hoped it will ease the burden on the NHS, as well as reduce congestion on the roads as people stop using their cars for short journeys.

The 'social prescriptions' pilot scheme, coming in later this year, aims to help reduce heart disease and cancer rates

The government-backed scheme also hopes to reduce congestion on the roads as people stop using their cars for short journeys

The Department for Transport said £12.7million has been given to 11 local authorities across England to fund the 'social prescriptions', as well as projects such as adult cycle training, walking groups and interest free bike loans.

Prescriptions will also include exercises for wheelchair or mobility scooter users, the department said.

Schemes such as all-ability cycling taster days and exercise mental health groups will also be introduced, it added.

The Government said authorities must improve infrastructure alongside the trials so that people feel safe undertaking the activities.

The pilots will run until 2025 in Bath and north-east Somerset, Bradford, Cornwall, Cumbria, Doncaster, Gateshead, Leeds, Nottingham, Plymouth, Suffolk and Staffordshire.

The outcomes of the prescriptions will be monitored to assess the impact of these activities on individuals' health, such as reduced GP appointments and reliance on medication.

GP prescriptions in the scheme will also include exercises for wheelchair or mobility scooter users, the Department for Transport said
The pilots will run until 2025 in Bath and north-east Somerset, Bradford, Cornwall, Cumbria, Doncaster, Gateshead, Leeds, Nottingham, Plymouth, Suffolk and Staffordshire

The pilots will run until 2025 in Bath and north-east Somerset, Bradford, Cornwall, Cumbria, Doncaster, Gateshead, Leeds, Nottingham, Plymouth, Suffolk and Staffordshire

The Department for Transport said several government departments and agencies – including NHS England, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Sport England, National Academy for Social Prescribing, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Department for Health and Social Care – are working together on the project.

Walking and cycling minister Trudy Harrison said the activities have 'so many benefits – from improving air quality in our communities to reducing congestion on our busiest streets.'

She added: 'It also has an enormous positive impact on physical and mental health, which is why we have funded these projects which will get people across the country moving and ease the burden on our NHS.'
Walking and cycling minister Trudy Harrison said the activities have ‘so many benefits – from improving air quality in our communities to reducing congestion'

Walking and cycling minister Trudy Harrison said the activities have 'so many benefits – from improving air quality in our communities to reducing congestion'

Among the scheme's main backers is former Olympic gold medal cyclist Chris Boardman, who is now commissioner of National Active Travel, an executive agency set up by the Government to improve the UK's cycling and walking infrastructure.

He said: 'As a nation we need healthier, cheaper and more pleasant ways to get around for everyday trips.

'Moving more will lead to a healthier nation, a reduced burden on the NHS, less cancer, heart disease and diabetes, as well as huge cost savings.

'This trial aims to build on existing evidence to show how bringing transport, active travel and health together can make a positive impact on communities across England.'

Health minister Maria Caulfield said: 'Getting active is hugely beneficial for both our mental and physical health, helping reduce stress and ward off other illness such as heart disease and obesity.

'The UK is leading the way in embedding social prescribing in our NHS and communities across the country.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11132435/Doctors-prescribe-walking-cycling-beat-heart-disease-boost-nations-wellbeing.html

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Doctors will soon be telling patients to 'get on your bike' or 'take a
> hike' as cycling and walking are to be prescribed by GPs in a health
> improvement drive announced today.

> The pilot scheme to be rolled out later this year aims to cut rates of
> cancer and heart disease by encouraging people to take more exercise.

> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11132435/Doctors-prescribe-walking-cycling-beat-heart-disease-boost-nations-wellbeing.html

Doctors are unhappy with this proposal. Expect it to sink without trace.

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Spike

The NHs needs to stop treating the elderly and concentrate on the younger generations ... the people who contribute and pay for it ... the people who need to rebuild this broken country .... the people with their lives in front of them ... so sorry grandma ... you have not looked after yourself so you have brought it upon yourself!

On 22/08/2022 11:06 am, swldx...@gmail.com [Sociopath Mason] wrote:

> The NHs needs to stop treating the elderly and concentrate on the younger generations ... the people who contribute and pay for it ... the people who need to rebuild this broken country .... the people with their lives in front of them ... so sorry grandma ... you have not looked after yourself so you have brought it upon yourself!

One brings the passing of time upon oneself?

Really?

Is that part of the General Theory?

Or are you now simply adding psychopathy to your established sociopathy?

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity>

LoveMarmite, Almost Brighton, United Kingdom, 41 minutes ago

No point in having an expensive bike. My bike (which I love by the way and I've had it since 2012 so I'm not complaining) cost a modest amount and I use it all time to get bits of shopping and save taking the car out. My sister got an expensive bike from Giant and she hardly ever uses it because she's afraid to leave it chained up anywhere.

-------------------
Move away from a chavvy area then.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> The NHs needs to stop treating the elderly and concentrate on the younger
> generations ... the people who contribute and pay for it ... the people
> who need to rebuild this broken country .... the people with their lives
> in front of them ... so sorry grandma ... you have not looked after
> yourself so you have brought it upon yourself!

For all you know, ‘grandma’ may well have been an ATS girl operating an AA
gun predictor, and in that would have done far more than you ever will.
You’re doubtless glad that when you jumped off a bridge and got run over by
a lorry, the medical profession did not say ‘you have brought it upon
yourself!’ and turned to more worthy cases.

Quite the spiteful little hypocrite, aren’t you.

--
Spike

On 22/08/2022 01:29 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> LoveMarmite, Almost Brighton, United Kingdom, 41 minutes ago
>
> No point in having an expensive bike. My bike (which I love by the way and I've had it since 2012 so I'm not complaining) cost a modest amount and I use it all time to get bits of shopping and save taking the car out. My sister got an expensive bike from Giant and she hardly ever uses it because she's afraid to leave it chained up anywhere.
>
> -------------------
> Move away from a chavvy area then.

When are you going to do that?

Jim William, London, United Kingdom, about 3 hours ago

Poeple who drive a mile to attend a gym so they can pedal 2 miles on a bike going nowhere and then drive a mile home. All while spending 95 pence of every pound they spend on petrol just to move a metal box from A to B and back to A again (the car weighs 1900kg and you weigh 100kg. Do the maths). And we wonder why the world is **&%*

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Jim William, London, United Kingdom, about 3 hours ago

> Poeple who drive a mile to attend a gym so they can pedal 2 miles on a
> bike going nowhere and then drive a mile home. All while spending 95
> pence of every pound they spend on petrol just to move a metal box from A
> to B and back to A again (the car weighs 1900kg and you weigh 100kg. Do
> the maths). And we wonder why the world is **&%*

Freedom of choice is anathema to those who would control others lives.

--
Spike

Long long long before Covid my GP surgery offered exercise on prescription with walks or access to gyms and swimming pools so I thought all surgeries would be doing the same. I did suggest to the Practice manager that they should link with the bike hire scheme only for the council to pull the bike hire scheme a few months later.

Also, every surgery, especially new ones, should have ample good bike racks as part of this push for exercise on prescription with surgeries encouraging people to walk or cycle to the surgery if they can. There is only one place to lock a single bike at my surgery - a handrail for a ramp - and in over 30 years I've rarely seen another bike occupying that space when I arrive.

I find it odd that surgeries know they should be encouraging people to be more active yet nearly everyone drives to the surgery as there's little alternative to getting there, which clogs up the roads with cars and leads to fighting over parking that does no good for people's blood pressure or general health.

On 22/08/2022 04:48 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Jim William, London, United Kingdom, about 3 hours ago
>
> Poeple who drive a mile to attend a gym so they can pedal 2 miles on a bike going nowhere and then drive a mile home. All while spending 95 pence of every pound they spend on petrol just to move a metal box from A to B and back to A again (the car weighs 1900kg and you weigh 100kg. Do the maths). And we wonder why the world is **&%*

Mind your own business?

Just a (good) suggestion...

Agree. Lots of this is - like getting people moving via decent walking and cycling infra - not rocket science. And yet having known all this for many decades we've not collected much of the low-hanging fruit.

I suspect things bog down on the "how". Should we spend (more) to encourage healthier lifestyles, enable them, nudge people towards them (e.g. more better cycling/walking infra), shove people towards them (war on the motorist!) or frogmarch them (take away the cars, mandate a certain amount of exercise per week)? Who decides what constitutes a healthier lifestyle? If I cycle hundreds of miles per week but mostly eat cake / spend Saturday night in the pub do I get congratulated or fined?

There's also our current spotty record with evidence-based policy. Turns out that politicians aren't any more keen on that than people are about choosing carrots over cakes or doing another set of reps.