Don’t let new guidelines put you off exercise referral

Creative director,

Refer-all

I read with interest the new draft NICE guidelines for exercise referral schemes. Changes to these services can be a daunting prospect for leisure providers, not least because – as they dwell in the medical rather than the leisure realm – many will have been unaware they were even in the offing. As a result, they may come as an unpleasant surprise.

Often this creates a knee jerk reaction, with wholly viable programmes simply stopping what they are doing because their service suddenly doesn’t meet the new guidelines. It’s crucial that providers of these essential programmes realise they don’t need to do this.

Before taking such radical action, take time to thoroughly digest the guidance. Some services may not need to make any changes, but if changes are required, they must be identified; the service provider should work with their commissioner to agree on a suitable solution for any gaps.

The suggested new guidelines, an update of those from 2006, suggest that an exercise referral service shouldn’t be commissioned unless the scheme collects a minimum amount of data that can be externally verified. If concerned about external verification, service providers should be aware that this can be done by the commissioner of the service, a university or other academic institution, or even a company that provides exercise referral solutions. Most importantly, don’t panic. Above all, make sure it’s possible to demonstrate the effectiveness of the programme.

Leisure providers should digest the new NICE guidance and seek advice / Picture: www.istock.com/CandyBox Images

Driving participation through local sport

CEO,

Tonbridge & Malling Leisure Trust (TMLT)

I read with interest your news story ‘Too few community sports facilities in the UK’ from July 25, in which a cross-party committee of MPs expressed concern over the declining number of affordable, flexible community sports facilities in the UK. It encouraged communities, local authorities and sports clubs to take a more creative approach.

While I agree a collaborative approach is needed, it seems there’s little acknowledgement of the successful work leisure trusts are already doing to provide inexpensive, accessible sporting facilities across the UK. As a newly established trust, TMLT is already making headway: the most recent Sport England Active People survey showed a 4.65 per cent increase in participation in our area between 2006 and 2014.

The committee believes locally organised, locally promoted sport seems the most promising way of increasing participation. We couldn’t agree more. We would encourage Sport England to actively promote the work done by trusts and involve sporta members in the debate about how we can all do more.

Trusts make an impact locally / Picture: www.istock.com/bikeriderlondon