Call for GPS to prescribe fitness classes

MORE people who are obese and inactive should be prescribed exercise classes at local leisure centres, according to councils.

New analysis from the District Councils’ Network (DCN), which commissioned experts at the University of East Anglia, suggests nearly a third of people currently do less than 30 minutes of physical activity per week.

The report found that if GPS prescribed local leisure services to one million inactive people over the next decade this could avoid thousands of cases of disease, save the NHS more than £300 million and extend people’s lives by about 3.7 years.

The DCN is calling on the Government to invest in local sport and leisure services, which it argues already have close community links and can work with groups such as charities to focus on hard-to-reach groups.

It comes as some council-operated gyms, swimming pools and sports halls continue to face significant financial challenges to stay open in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the DCN, councils are the biggest provider of leisure and fitness services in the country, owning 2,727 leisure centres, 33 per cent of all swimming pools and 31% of the grass pitches in England.