The government have been clear in highlighting the changes that are needed for the NHS to be fit for purpose in the future, including a move from a sickness to a preventative health care system and a shift from hospital to community care.
parkrun can play an important role in helping the government deliver on these strategic priorities, creating more active and happier communities and as a result a nation that is less reliant on the NHS.
Since 2018 we have been working with the Royal College of GPs to deliver the ‘parkrun practice’ initiative that links parkrun events with local GP practices and allows GPs and healthcare professionals to socially prescribe parkrun to patients with a range of physical and mental health conditions.
Prescribing and introducing parkrun to patients gives them greater responsibility for improving their health, reducing their reliance on the NHS and medical interventions. The programme is run in nearly 2,000 GP practices across the country (around a third) but we want to see it in every practice across the UK.
Research undertaken by YouGov on our behalf and released today shows that the British public backs the idea of GP’ssocially prescribing parkrun to help reduce pressure in the NHS. Over 2 in 3 think that GP’s prescribing parkrun is a good idea and over a quarter of people think they could personally benefit from being prescribed parkrun by their local GP.
The ambition to expand parkrun practice to every GP surgery in the country is part of our wider strategy to support those who have the most to gain by taking part in parkrun whether that’s running, walking or volunteering. Last year over 45,000 people in the UK who registered for parkrun were identified as ‘completely inactive’. Nearly a quarter of those who take part in parkrun have a health condition and over one in 10 have a long-term health condition.
With over 225,000 people taking part in over 1,200 free events in the heart of local communities up and down the country every weekend, parkrun is a unique and proven public health intervention and one that can play a vital role in helping the government achieve its mission to fix the NHS.
Movement is medicine. And the prescription is free.
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