INDUSTRY VIEWS
POSITIONING FOR HEALTH OPPORTUNITIES EXIST FOR OUR SECTOR IF WE THINK ‘INTEGRATION’
Health. It is the future of our sector and we are well, if not yet optimally, placed to deliver on it. But one thing is for sure: with a national debt profile of £2.65trn – 96.5 per cent of the UK’s GDP – and spending of £1.4bn on public sector leisure, our cap- in-hand approach must give way to far more creativity in how we deliver services. So, what do we do? I talk about ‘positioning for health’, as I’m not a fan of the term ‘pivot’ in this context. Going back a couple of decades, I managed leisure centres where we ran all sorts of amazing programmes, including NHS-supported initiatives focusing on mind, exercise and nutrition, alongside smoking cessation. We have always fostered wellbeing as a sector. Many such initiatives have since fallen by the wayside, not prioritised for funding, but we mustn’t lose sight of the benefits we already bring: £9.5bn of social value in health improvements delivered through our 3,000 public sector leisure facilities (Moving Communities), 66 per cent of cancer prehab and rehab taking place in UK leisure centres, health inequalities tackled and the economic wellbeing of communities enhanced… But there is a next step, and that’s to become even more serious about our role in public health, going beyond co-location to become part of an integrated wellbeing future. At Alliance Leisure, we’ve embraced this collaborative agenda and are rising to the challenge, the new Harrogate and Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centres just one example. As we move forward, we believe leisure centres will be transformed into active wellness hubs, operating alongside locally-based services and activities, with increased support for community-based activity. Meanwhile, leisure services are starting to be formally recognised as part of Primary Care Networks (PCNs). And in a bid to reduce the health inequalities that arise from workforce shortages in general practices, PCNs are using the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to fund 12 roles – one of which is a health and wellbeing coach. This is a perfect opportunity for integration with healthcare, as we could very feasibly mobilise our own skilled workforce to fill that gap. We’re also seeing a new undercurrent that plays in our favour. While it’s true that 55 per cent of councils report the need to find cost savings in their sport and leisure service provision (LGA survey, February 2024), we’re also seeing a number of regions amalgamating multiple local authorities into one, and along with other partners, they have a clear mission in doing so: to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities. When you have local authorities committing to that as their future direction, it bodes well for our sector – provided we can step up and make a gear change.
The next step is to go beyond co-
location to become part of an integrated wellbeing future
JAMES FOLEY Commercial Director, Alliance Leisure
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
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