Healthcare & Physical Activity Training Programme

Herts Sport & Physical Activity Partnership (HSP) is embedding training opportunities into primary and secondary care to upskill on how physical activity can play an important role in supporting those living with long-term health conditions and to show that movement is the best medicine. We have a range of opportunities below, catering for both clinical and non-clinical roles. Please contact hsphealth@herts.ac.uk for further information and to book training. 

In March 2025, NHS England published a new position statement on physical activity, higlighting one of the four ways in which the NHS plans to harness the full potential of physical activity to help people live longer, healthier lives. This is via 'empowering health and care professionals and equipping them with the skills and confidence to discuss the importance of taking up appropriate physical activity with patients who have health conditions', emphasising the impact of and need for the following training packages:

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Active Medicine Training 

Active Medicine is a training offer open to everyone working in health and social care, including both paid and voluntary roles, from GPs, nurses, and allied health professionals to social care workers and befrienders. The training offer, developed by Get Berkshire Active, aims to empower the healthcare workforce to be more active and be more confident in talking about and referring to physical activity.

Helping people become more physical active - Free, 1-hour online or in-person workshop. 

An interactive session covering the importance and benefits of being active, national guidance and tips tailored to you, helpful resources, local opportunities, and positive conversation skills. 

The course is suitable for people working in clinical (GPs, Nurses, Pharmacists, etc) and non-clinical roles such as social prescribers, care navigators, befrienders, and volunteers. 

As of August 2025, we have have now delivered this training to over 530 health professionals across 12 PCNs and healthcare settings in Hertfordshire, with 97% rating the training as 'good/excellent'.

Operations Manager at Hitchin & Whitwell PCN, Dionne Notschild, commented on the training:

“Thank you so much for the training. It was very interesting and full of signposting, both nationally and locally for our staff to take away. I was also very pleased with the engagement in the room as well”. 

A member of Dolphin House Surgery, Ware & Rurals PCN, commented on the training:

"Great teaching, glad that work is being done to help encourage people to get active and the resources will be really helpful as, often what I lack is suitable places to signpost people when having these conversations".

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Physical Activity Clinical Champions (PACC) Training 

PACC Training is free peer-to-peer training for healthcare professionals improving the knowledge around physical activity for the prevention and management of long-term conditions. The training is delivered by experts in this area, most often practicing GPs. The training was developed in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University and Intelligent Health. 

As of August 2025, we have now hosted six PACC trainings accessible to Hertfordshire clinicians, including some specific sessions e.g., MSK, Mental Health, CYP and Behaviour Change.

What does the PACC training look like? 

Peer-to-peer 1-1.5 hour training sessions to groups of healthcare professionals at a date and time to suit local needs e.g., Vocational Training Schemes, Protected Learning Time, lunchtime learning, etc. 

• Access evidence-based resources proven to increase knowledge and confidence and support clinical practice in line with guidance (e.g., NICE). 

• Improve management and care of patients with 30+ long-term conditions (e.g., CVD, type 2 diabetes, depression, MSK issues, some cancers). 

• Help reduce service demand and costs i.e., the £0.9bn annual cost to the NHS associated with insufficient physical activity. 

Over 25,000 HCPs have been trained so far, nationally. An independent evaluation demonstrated improvements in participant knowledge, confidence, and frequency of patient physical activity conversations: 

• 84% agreed the training was useful in their work. 

• 91% would recommend the training to their colleagues. 

• 40% of HCPs were having more conversations with their patients about physical activity post-training. 

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Motivational Interviewing & Physical Activity Training

This new training combines Motivational Interviewing techniques with Active Medicine training to motivate and encourage patients to be more physically active. This extended version of Active Medicine training offers a deeper exploration into Motivational Interviewing to help personalsied care professionals refine their conversational skills, enabling them to better support patients in adopting more active lifestyles. 

The training is expertly developed and delivered by Steve Evans, Health Improvement Coordinator - Training at Hertfordshire County Council Public Health, whose extensive experience in Motivational Interviewing brings invaluable insight into these sessions.

The pilot training covered the following modules: 

• A refresher on the benefits of physical activity 

• Introduction to Motivational Interviewing 

• Module 1: Behaviour Change theories and models 

• Module 2: The Spirit and Principles of Motivational Interviewing 

• Module 3: Core Skills and Change Talk techniques (including OARS, reflective listening, scaling questions, and decisional balance) 

• Module 4: Goal Setting 

Each module integrated role-play exercises and physical activity-focused case studies to simulate real patient scenarios, allowing participants to practice and refine their skills in a supportive environment. 

The training targeted personalised care staff specifically because their roles often allow more time to engage with patients compared to clincians. This enables them to effectively ‘prescribe’ movement as medicine. While open to all healthcare roles, future sessions will continue to target personalised care professionals countywide. 

Attendees from our pilot session in East Herts & Broxbourne commented on the training:

"It had a great balance of humour and engagement. The trainer was engaging and open to questions" 

"Brilliant training, great delivery and really great audience for conversations in the real world" 

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How do I sign-up and enquire about a training offer?

Please contact hsphealth@herts.ac.uk for further information and to book training.