The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published new guidelines for primary care practitioners to support them to identify adults who are not active enough and encourage them to get moving.
The recommendations have been made within the context of other national and local strategies and interventions to increase or maintain physical activity levels in the population. The recommendations cover:
- identifying adults who are inactive
- delivering and following up on brief advice
- incorporating brief advice in commissioning
- systems to support brief advice
- information and training to support brief advice.
The guidance is for commissioners of health services and anyone working in primary care whose remit includes offering lifestyle advice. For example, exercise professionals, GPs, health trainers, health visitors, mental health professionals, midwives, pharmacists, practice nurses and physiotherapists might find the guidelines useful. It may also be of interest to others with a role in encouraging members of the public to be physically active.
This guidance is a partial update of Four commonly used methods to increase physical activity, NICE public health guidance 2 (2006). The recommendations supersede recommendations 1–4 in NICE public health guidance 2.