The Director of Public Health gave an overview of the report stating that physical activity is good for physical and mental health and helps to prevent long term conditions and has a positive impact on dementia.  We need to convey important messages such as it is never too late to get more physically active and that even a little activity leads to gains start with in health.

Merton has developed a self assessment tool which benchmarks how the borough is performing against the latest evidence on how to get more people physically active and showed good progress in a number of areas.  The Director said they would welcome support from the panel to make a bid to Sport England for some funding that can be used to identify local priorities and to provide more opportunities for Merton residents to be more active.

A panel member said they are part of a local organisation providing a range of services to the local community including physical activity and queried why it is so difficult to get funding for physical activity. The Director of Public Health said funding is a big challenge; we need to also use our existing resources more effectively by linking up different projects and signposting people between services.

A Panel member asked what practical steps are being taken to improve physical activity for fifty five plus age group. The public health commissioning manager reported that the NHS health checks programme is a prevention programme that supports residents between 40 and 74 years of age and includes a discussion and signposting onto physical activity programme. So far over one thousand people have benefitted from the programme.

A panel member asked how we engage with the voluntary sector. The Public Health Commissioning Manager said we work with the voluntary sector in a number of programmes including the befriending scheme and the Exercise for Life programme.

A panel member asked if we are conducting education programmes. The Director of Public Health said education is important but it is also essential to provide opportunities to people engage with physical activity so we will be working with the community to find out their needs.

A panel member queried the effectiveness of the NHS health check programme based on their personal experience.  Although they met the criteria they were not contacted and had to make their own appointment. This is a cause for a concern as many members of the community may not be proactive in this regard. The Public Health Commissioning Manager said It is a five year rolling programme and feasible that those towards the end of the programme have not yet been contacted and that the public health team have take up figures by each GP practice and would be able to monitor the success of the programme.

 A panel member was concerned that the council are withdrawing funding from community organisations that provide essential preventive services including physical activity exercises. They queried if there is any NHS Funding to provide services for physical activity. The Director of Public Health said they are working closely with the NHS through the Health and Wellbeing Board and we are looking at ways to use resources effectively to make them go further.

RESOLVED

The Panel thanked officers for their work and would like an update in six months with details of progress in each area.