Published on: 26,Feb 2026

Louisa Emkes, Policy Officer, We are Undefeatable powered by the Richmond Group of Charities

In November 2025, The Richmond Group of Charities submitted a response to the Department of Health and Social Care 10-Year Workforce Plan call to evidence.  We then shared further evidence by facilitating a roundtable with our charity partners and DHSC on the same topic. In this blog, our Policy Officer Louisa reflects on the relationship between healthcare professionals and physical activity, and how the 10-Year Workforce Plan can help get people with long-term conditions active.  

Whilst there is generally a good understanding as to why physical activity is beneficial, there are often questions around how we can support more people to be physically active. Lived experience insights from We Are Undefeatable, our behaviour change campaign supporting people with long term conditions to find ways to move that work for them, shows the NHS and healthcare professionals are consistently named as the most trusted source of advice on physical activity, making the workforce an essential component of the ‘how’. 

Maximising the role healthcare professionals play in supporting people with movement can support the successful delivery of the three shifts in the 10-Year Health Plan – sickness to prevention, hospital to community, analogue to digital. This includes by increasing capacity for preventative healthcare, supporting people to manage their condition in community or home settings, or taking advantage of digital physical activity tools that support staff and patients alike. 

So how can we ensure the 10-Year Workforce Plan maximises the powerful role healthcare professionals play? 

1.  Prioritise the health and wellbeing of the workforce 

The health and wellbeing of the workforce themselves must not be overlooked. The 2024 NHS Staff Survey shows 1 in 4 of the NHS workforce have a long-term condition, and it consistently highlights high levels of burnout and stress amongst NHS staff – all of which can lead to high absence rates or staff leaving the NHS permanently. 

Physical activity is a clear evidence-based solution that can support the physical and mental health of all healthcare professionals. The 10-Year Workforce Plan provides a crucial opportunity to ensure this is prioritised, with positive benefits for individuals and the wider system, such as reducing stress which could lead to reduce staff sickness/absence.  

This could be achieved by embedding NHS England’s Four Ways Forward, a ready-made action plan to tackle physical inactivity; providing leadership and positive role models like NHS employee Julie’s story; and utilising resources like our We Are Undefeatable campaign that provides free practical tools to support the NHS workforce find ways to move that work for them. 

2. Ensure the workforce are equipped to discuss physical activity 

Our latest We Are Undefeatable insights show the least active, who have the most health benefits to gain from being physically active, are less likely to have discussions with healthcare professionals about physical activity. However, of the discussions that did take place in the last month, 80% of people with a long-term condition took steps across the behaviour change journey to become more active, such as taking direct actions to getting active or finding out more about physical activity. Any action, particularly in the least active and including thinking about being physically active, is a valuable step towards behaviour change and is important to recognise. 

Some NHS staff have told us they don’t feel confident to discuss physical activity with their patients; this is a gap that the 10-Year Workforce Plan can help to address by incorporating the training component of NHS England’s Four Ways Forward and utilising programmes such as the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine’s Moving Medicine platform that has already trained thousands of healthcare professionals to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to have conversations about physical activity. 

Ensuring the NHS workforce are equipped to support people with long term conditions with a range of options, including physical activity, can increase productivity and reduce demand on healthcare services. 

3. Value VCSE, sport and physical activity, and other non-NHS organisations as equal partners 

The NHS workforce doesn’t have to work alone in tackling physical inactivity. At a time when the NHS is under pressure to deliver across multiple areas, it is even more important to expand how we traditionally view who and how care is delivered. 

Our Untapped Potential and ukactive’s Unlocking the Potential reports highlight the valuable expertise that exists in sectors outside of the NHS, but the value and potential of these sectors is often under-recognised and there are opportunities to utilise it further within the 10-Year Workforce Plan. Successful physical activity partnerships, like Think Active, show how NHS and non-NHS organisations can work differently and in collaboration towards common goals. 

Fully recognising and utilising the potential of other organisations can support the NHS and add capacity but to make this possible they must be valued in the 10-Year Workforce Plan as equal partners. 

We look forward to the publication of the 10-Year Workforce plan later this year and it contributing to supporting millions more people with long-term conditions to move.