Speeches

Fred Turok: 2009 Summit 

Ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of Andree, David and the FIA team, welcome.

Summit vetrens will know that this event is always well attended by politcians of all persuasions and all colours but unfortunately today, even Andree's charm, wit and influence has been out-ranked by an opposition day debate, called by the SNP's, asking for a dissolution of Parliament. Being a three-line-whip issue, Mike Penning, the Conservative Shadow Health Minister and Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem's Shadow Secretary of State for Health can not be with us today, but both have sent letters of support and apology. Obviously our new Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham can not be with us either - for the same reason - but he has announced his arrival into the post with a very clear and very public declaration of intent.

To pre-empt this morning's news of an NHS bill for 2010-2011 of an unprecedented £110bn and an expected over-run of a further £10-11bn for the following year, caused by:-

An aging population-

And an increase in the cost of drugsAndy Burnham told the Guardian earlier this week - and I quote - "Making the country more active should be a fundamental part of what the NHS is about."

The NHS must be a "....prevention service to keep people healthy in the first place. Our levels of physical activity are significantly behind some other European countries and there is so much more we can do.

"The Olympic period and all that focus on sport is the time to do it: this is the moment to make a decisive change around people's sport and physical activity's role in our national life."

Andy Burnham has kickstarted the wellbeing debate so today is all about the future, the Health of the Nation. Today is our opportunity to grab it and drag it into every corner of Britain, because if we don't, we as a nation, will carry on doing what we have always done, and as the old saying goes........... if you do what you did, you'll get what you got.

And what have we got? Have we got something we can all feel proud about?

Can we collectively - not just us but Westminster, Whitehall, the NHS, healthcare professionals, employers and food manufacturers - can we collectively be proud of what we've got? Can we be proud of the fact that by 2050 50% of adults will be obese? Can we proud of the fact that by 2050 90% of children will be either overweight or obese? Can we be proud of the fact that the incidence of lifestyle diseases such as asthma, Type 2 diabetes and obesity going through the roof? They say if it ain't broke don't fix it............but something is broke and today should be the catalyst to try to start to fix it.

If that is the emotional context of today, let me give you the rational justification for today. I have before me three stunning facts. Three stunning facts which gives today context, meaning and a sense of purpose. Three stunning facts which give us a real and very clear mandate from the most important people in our lives: the people for whom today is all about........ the 60 million people who we share this island with. Ladies and gentlemen, the three stunning facts are from a YouGov poll conducted last week.

The facts are:

75% of consumers do not think that ‘exercise is taken seriously enough' as part of an illness prevention strategy ·
66% of consumers think that ‘The NHS is more likely to prescribe medicine (rather) than exercise for diseases such as asthma and obesity' and ·
60% of consumers demand greater investment in exercise. Our mandate is very clear.
For the past 20 years, we have concentrated on building our individual businesses and on building the reputation of our industry. This focus must never and can never stop. Everyday, one million people walk through our doors the same number of visits to the NHS. We have the same number of fitness instructors as GPs. The comparism is telling. But today we are still at the foothills of a new mountain and it's a mountain we have to climb together. The mountain is delivering strategies to improve the health of the nation.

But why should we lead the charge up the mountain? What qualifications do we have to lead that charge? As a health and wellbeing industry, we will soon be launching perhaps the biggest national consumer activity campaign in our history, MoreActive4Life. It's not aimed at the 12% of the population who regularly use our clubs and leisure centres, or the other 12-to-13 % who play sports, walk the dog and have an active lifestyle.

Ladies and gentlemen MoreActive4Life is aimed at the 30% who do not exercise at all and the 80% of the population who do not meet the Government's 30 minutes, five times a week health targets and therefore are not benefiting in terms of their health and their wellbeing. MoreActive4Life is a health and wellbeing proposition which delivers what consumers want ie:

An investment in health prevention
An investment in exercise
Addressing the overdependence on the pill and the knife, instead of on exercise and prevention. Although this is not a new message for us we, for once, are not calling for change: consumers are. This is our mandate for today ........... the health of the nation. However this is not a journey we can travel alone and this is not a task we can accomplish alone. We have to be part of a delivery team. And if we have to break doors down and drag the rest of the team to the table then that's just what we have to do
So who is round this table? Who else is part of this team? From where I stand, I think there are 4 parties in this mix.

The Government
The healthcare sector
Us
And corporate Britain the employers, food manufactures, drink manufacturers, games manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies in short, everyone who has something to contribute and everyone who has a stake in the health of the nation.
So let's take each of those in turn. First the Government: Andy Burnham has made a very public declaration of intent and Andree and her team have been very successful in getting us on the Government's agenda and yes, Change4Life has been a great catalyst for us all.Will Cavendish and his team in the Department of Health have got it!They understand the magnitude of the ‘need' and the urgency required to promote the physical activity message. Thanks to their tremendous work, the DH's support of MoreActive4Life has given us the flying start we needed. And of course we do work with the Government on programmes ranging from go and active at school, to Sweat in the City and Fit For The Future.But is this enough?

The Government is the largest employer in this country.I understand that of the 1.5 million NHS employees, almost half are either overweight or obese. How can we help the NHS to practice what it preaches - across the board and not just in pockets here and there. Once the DH has an ‘activity in the workplace' strategy up and running, let's start on the other great offices of state. What else should this and every subsequent government be doing as their contribution to ‘Project Health of the Nation'.

There are the obvious measures - VAT reductions: getting the financial incentives right to make employer provided fitness opportunities more attractive - to both employers and employees. There is a very simple principle which must be acknowledged. Anyone who invests in getting themselves, their families and their children active is saving the taxpayer money. Any employer investing in his or her employees activity habits - and therefore their health and wellbeing - is saving the taxpayer money. So why are we penalising rather than rewarding these investments in the health of the nation?

Then there are the tactical measures: help us to up-skill our workforce and incentivise us to deliver activity in schools, in the community, in government run offices, for specific target groups be they ethnic women, young people or the over 50's, the communities who are or will consume a disproportionately greater amount of our NHS resources - because they are not active enough.

Lastly, but probably most importantly, there are the strategic measures: what does this and subsequent governments need to do to make public health campaigns more explicit? More explicit in terms of communicating the energy-in energy-out message and delivery of that message. More explicit in terms of educating consumers about the benefits of exercise, as well as providing them with the help and support they need to improve their health. Our goal has to be behavioural modification and long term attitudinal shift.Or, put more simply, we have almost 40 thousand trained exercise professionals who, like GPs can prescribe exercise and measure results.

There are almost 20m people out there who can benefit from our skills and expertise. What should a UK Government do to bridge the schism. What is the plan; what is the required investment; what are the KPIs to ensure that the taxpayer sees a real return on their investment; and who will drive this plan. This issue is so much bigger than the current pre-occupations of the Palace of Westminster that I fear that unless we drive the issue, this proposed strategy, which could benefit the health of the nation, will die here in Bolton. In 1997 the cry was education, education, education, perhaps the winning battle cry for 2010 election should be health, health, health.

What do I know. I'm no politician. But I do know that change is not only driven by politicians it comes from the people from the ground up. The people have told us what they want now it's our turn to do something about it.

The second seat at our imaginary table belongs to the healthcare sector. The message to them is very simple. The people are begging you to put away your pills and knives and engage with us more extensively than you are doing now. Do not ignore the fact that 75% of consumers do not think that you take exercise seriously enough. Park the ‘stretched budgets' and manpower arguments and listen to the 66% of consumers who think that doctors are more likely to prescribe medicine than exercise for obesity and asthma. Whatever you're doing: whatever your strategy, it isn't working. If it was, obesity levels wouldn't be going through the roof. It's broke. So let's fix it. Let's fix it together. And let's start today.

Perhaps the problem is systemic. Perhaps the fact that doctors get up to 73 QOF points for smoking cessation, 8 for obesity and zero for exercise referrals has something to do with GP's priorities. (For those are not familiar with QOF, it stands for The Quality and Outcomes Framework and is a reward and incentive programme for all GP surgeries in England ie KPIs linked to payments, and we don't even make it to first base in the QOF game).

Please do not think that I am suggesting that our doctors lack integrity and are driven by money. I am not. But I am suggesting that if the incentives were there, perhaps outcomes would be different. I think I'll leave that one there and move on to the third seat at the table - us.Let us be honest with ourselves. Are we equipped to meet the demands of the 50%ers?

Do we have programmes developed specifically for this community, or are they derivatives of those created for the 12%ers? Are our facilities right for the 50%ers? Are we so preoccupied with meeting the needs and wants of fitness enthusiasts, or are our gyms welcoming and appropraite environments for the 50%ers? If they don't come to us, how can we as an industry ‘go to them'?

I know there are many people who are doing some great work in communities around the country, but if we're asking our other partners at the Health of the Nation table to think strategically and think nationally, then so should we.Do our trainers understand the psychological profiles of the 50%ers and do they have the right skills sets to deal with people who are not exercise literate?

Should we be planning to train teenagers to deliver activity programes to teenagers.... train muslim or asian women to deliver appropriate activity programmes in muslim and asian communities, perhaps in temples and mosques? Do we have enough Levels 3 and 4 in the areas of high (health) depravation? Where do we sit in the continuum of physical activity? Experts are redesigning our cities as I speak, as part of a plan to make Britian a nation of cyclists......where are we in this mix?

Do they see us as activity partners, or just a bunch of ROI fixated, weights focused, semi-trained wanna-be's? National activity strategies: Skills, facilities, equipment, community focus, community delivery, community programmes, appropriately trained trainers, these are the realities of becoming health delivery partners. What is our collective strategy?

Do we have one?

Do you know it?

Who will pay for the skilling, the up-skilling and the reskilling required? Ladies and gentlemen, we too have serious issues to address.

Finally, let me turn to the last seat at the Health of the Nation table: the UK Corporate sector: yes sports led CSR is on their agenda Yes the 2012 health legacy hangs provocatively over their ambitions and their commercial plans. And yes, there is a declared £200m support package for Change4Life. But, in reality, beyond isolated pockets of excellence, what has Corporate Britain really done to improve the health of the nation?

What are employers doing to encourage their employees to be more active .... to do more exercise? Mind you, if the Government, the largest employer of them all doesn't tick this box, how can we ask recession gripped organisations to do so? How can we work together to help Corporate Britain become more involved in delivering activity in their workplaces? More partnerships between gyms and workplaces paid for by the companies? Investment in community programmes, delivered by us, which would benefit their employees, their employees' families and their employees' communities.Is it inconceiveable that pharmaceutical companies, who make billions out of the NHS, should put point-one-per- cent of their profits into a pot to fund the delivery of exercise programmes developed specifically for the 50%ers? Extraordinary times calls for extraordinary measures. We have to turn the obesity tanker around. We have to think the unthinkable: challenge the unchallengeable and connect with the unconnected. Ladies and gentlemen we, as an industry, are coming of age.

We must have the balls to be the catalysts in the development of a long term strategy, designed to improve the Health of The Nation. If we don't, no one else will. Government, the NHS, corporate Britain and us this is the partnership which can and which must change the nation's attitude to exercise and wellbeing. Prevention must be our objective. Partnership must be our strategy. Exercise must be a tactic, a key tactic to the wellbeing of the nation. This must be our collective goal, and today is where the journey must start.

Thank you.

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