Collaborations with the medical profession and greater aspirations around wellbeing are creating a need for more experts in our sector. It’s time to reboot our thinking around the workforce

The Young People and Work Review, led by Alan Milburn (www.hcmmag.com/Milburn), warns the UK is at risk of creating a ‘lost generation’, with a million young people not in employment, education or training, despite 84 per cent saying they want work or training opportunities.

The plight of the young is a challenge that extends far beyond the UK, as nations struggle to create rewarding careers in the industries of the future.

At the same time, healthcare systems globally are grappling with ageing populations and chronic disease, meaning demand for prevention, rehabilitation and wellbeing support has never been greater.

These challenges might appear unrelated, but they’re deeply connected. Society needs more movement professionals at the same time as many young people are struggling to find work, creating an opportunity for our sector to deliver the careers they seek.

There are already examples of momentum in this direction. In this issue of HCM, Stephen Price (page 32) calls for the creation of a ‘movement capacity’ workforce to deliver support in the community for people following their release from hospital or rehabilitation, and on page 48, Muir Gray argues the medical world can’t simply rely on ‘more healthcare’ as a solution to its current overwhelm, saying the future lies in delivering community-based support through physical activity.

In creating opportunities for work in these emerging roles, we must deliver at all levels, from school-leavers to post-graduates and across public and private sectors to ensure career progression is solid.

Unfortunately, sector workforce trends have been moving in the opposite direction – we’ve been producing more graduates in exercise science as operators have been reducing staffing or going staffless, meaning we’ve struggled to create enough career opportunities that match graduate-level ambitions.

This is – in part – driven by a misalignment of value. The consumer paying for a ‘movement intervention’ captures only part of its value, with many of the economic benefits accruing elsewhere – in health and social care, for example, through things such as falls reduction.

Until we solve that disconnect, with outcome-based commissioning, or higher-value services that monetise expertise – we’ll under-invest in the skilled physical activity workforce that society increasingly needs.

The sector has spent decades focusing on buildings and equipment. The future will belong to operators willing to invest in people and develop operating models that reward them for the value they create.

Liz Terry is editor of HCM magazine
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