Physical activity should be at the heart of the NHS's support for older people and is as important as providing medication, a report by the Health and Social Care Committee says.
The report, was partly based on research evidence submitted by the University of Manchester's Healthy Ageing Research Group.
Cited in the report, Chris Todd, Professor of Primary Care and Community Health at the University of Manchester told the Committee: "Evidence-based exercise programmes, particularly resistance training, could both prevent frailty from developing and reverse it. Exercise programmes to prevent frailty could decrease the risk factors linked to developing conditions associated with ageing, including dementia."
Boosting resilience to illness, frailty and falls through physical activity will be key to keeping the country's ageing population healthy and living independently for longer., the MPs said.
This change will be fundamental to the Government's objective of switching the NHS's focus from treating illness to preventing it
The report follows the cross-party Committee's Healthy Ageing inquiry and recommends:
- Advice and social prescribing of physical activity should become a core, routine offering to older people from their GPs and other clinicians.
- Stronger links between local NHS services with leisure providers and community groups to make exercise more accessible.
- The Care Quality Commission should be charged with checking that exercise programmes are being provided to residents in care homes.
The Committee also called for a national conversation and a cultural shift in the way that ageing is perceived and talked about in society. Negative stereotypes can leave older people feeling resigned to becoming inactive, at the point in their lives when a sedentary lifestyle can have serious consequences, including increasing risk of falls.
Health and Social Care Committee Chair, Layla Moran MP, said: "Healthcare experts and the Government are all agreed that staying physically active can help older people to live not just longer, but healthier, happier, more sociable lives.
"Promoting active lifestyles among older people would also tackle two policy objectives at once - shifting the NHS's focus to prevention, and bringing services closer to home, not the nearest hospital. Experts told us that exercise can be more effective than medication, and these changes would also cut the NHS's vast expenditure on drugs. It's a win-win, and this report sets out how the Government can make it happen.
Key facts
- Being physically active cuts the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, musculoskeletal conditions, and some cancers.
- By 2035, 68% of people aged over 65 are expected to have two more serious health conditions, up from 54% in 2015. This causes lower quality of life, increases the chance of hospital admission and creates more complex care needs.
- In 2022, there were around 12.7 million people in the UK aged 65 or over, approximately 19% of the population. This is expected to rise to 22.1 million people (27% of the population) by 2072.
- The ONS and Health Foundation have shown that the average healthy life expectancy of children born in the most deprived areas of England is around 18 years lower than those born in the most affluent.
- In the UK, physical inactivity is associated with one in six deaths and is estimated to cost £7.4 billion annually.
