Lifestyle advice for hypertension or diabetes: trend analysis from 2002 to 2017 in England

John A Henry; Susan A Jebb; Paul Aveyard; Cesar Garriga; Julia Hippisley-Cox; Carmen Piernas

doi:10.3399/BJGP.2021.0493

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Lifestyle advice: Upskilling the wider workforce in primary care
Emer Forde and Angie Thompsett

Published on: 29 March 2022

Published on: (29 March 2022)
Page navigation anchor for Lifestyle advice: Upskilling the wider workforce in primary care
Lifestyle advice: Upskilling the wider workforce in primary care
Emer Forde, GP Programme Director, HEE Thames Valley and Wessex Primary Care School
Other Contributors:
Angie Thompsett, Primary Care Learning Environment Lead
Encouraging sedentary people to become more active could prevent one in six deaths.¹ It should be integral to our care for people with non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. However, as Henry et al. demonstrate the majority of patients still don’t receive appropriate lifestyle advice or have it recorded in their notes.² Research has shown that many GPs in England were unfamiliar with national guidelines for physical activity, more than a third didn’t even know guidelines existed, and more than half reported they had never received training in how to promote physical activity within their consultations.³

With a move towards a ‘wider workforce’ within primary care, there is a need to ensure all members of the team have the knowledge and skills to promote health and wellbeing through lifestyle changes. Health Education England (Wessex) Primary Care School offered a day of education on lifestyle medicine open to all members of the primary care team. This included a Public Health England workshop on physical activity; sleep hygiene; relaxation techniques; and using technology to promote lifestyle changes. Thirty participants also discussed the opportunities and challenges of promoting lifestyle medicine within their surgeries. A wide range of participants attended including health and wellbeing coaches, nurses and social prescribers. All reported that the training was extremely useful and met...
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Encouraging sedentary people to become more active could prevent one in six deaths.¹ It should be integral to our care for people with non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. However, as Henry et al. demonstrate the majority of patients still don’t receive appropriate lifestyle advice or have it recorded in their notes.² Research has shown that many GPs in England were unfamiliar with national guidelines for physical activity, more than a third didn’t even know guidelines existed, and more than half reported they had never received training in how to promote physical activity within their consultations.³

With a move towards a ‘wider workforce’ within primary care, there is a need to ensure all members of the team have the knowledge and skills to promote health and wellbeing through lifestyle changes. Health Education England (Wessex) Primary Care School offered a day of education on lifestyle medicine open to all members of the primary care team. This included a Public Health England workshop on physical activity; sleep hygiene; relaxation techniques; and using technology to promote lifestyle changes. Thirty participants also discussed the opportunities and challenges of promoting lifestyle medicine within their surgeries. A wide range of participants attended including health and wellbeing coaches, nurses and social prescribers. All reported that the training was extremely useful and met a gap in their professional development. Qualitative feedback included “very useful, will share with colleagues”, “very useful both in terms of resources, information and improving confidence in talking to and signposting patients”.

Our take home message is that all members of the primary care workforce can contribute to offering lifestyle advice, but they need up-to-date knowledge and training. Multidisciplinary teams learning together, and working together, are essential if we are to address the global epidemic of non-communicable diseases.

References

1. GOV.UK. Physical activity: applying all our health. 2022. www.gov.uk/government/publications/physical-activity-applying-all-our-health/physical-activity-applying-all-our-health.

2. Henry J, Jebb S, Aveyard P. et al. Lifestyle advice for hypertension or diabetes. Br J Gen Pract 2021.0493.

3. Chatterjee R, Chapman T, Brannan M, Varney J. GP’s knowledge, use, and confidence in national physical activity and health guidelines and tools. Br J Gen Pract 2017, 67(663): 668-675.
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Competing Interests: None declared.