Moving Primary Care: Embedding Movement as Prevention and Care
Webinar with Dr Callum Leese and Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi – 14 January 2026
Across the UK, primary care is under sustained pressure. GPs and practice teams are dealing with long waiting lists, short appointments, workforce shortages, and rising complexity, often leaving little capacity for preventative work.
This webinar looked at how movement support primary care without becoming yet another thing for overstretched systems to carry.
Movement as participation, not prescription
Both speakers emphasised that movement works best when it is accessible, social, and part of everyday life, not framed as a programme people must qualify for by being “ready” or “motivated”.
For people living with pain, long-term conditions, fear of injury, or repeated experiences of dropping out of exercise schemes, movement is often a route back into participation.
Crucially, this doesn’t mean GP practices becoming activity providers. It means signposting, partnerships, and pathways that connect people with opportunities that already feel relevant and safe.
Active practices
The Active Practice Charter was discussed not as a useful starting framework.
Many participants echoed a familiar reality: practices may sign up with good intentions, only for momentum to fade when a key staff member leaves or pressures increase.
Hussain talked about working with a sustainability consultant, supported through an Active Partnership. The outcome was a shift from personality-led delivery to structures that could survive staff turnover, something many attendees recognised as missing in their own settings.
Access barriers on both sides
The chat surfaced widespread frustration from community providers, public health teams, and volunteers trying to engage GP practices:
Reception desks acting as hard barriers
Posters refused or removed
GPs lacking headspace, even when supportive in principle
At the same time, GPs in the room described fighting daily “fires”, struggling with low engagement from patients and staff.
Several practical strategies emerged:
Lead with an offer, not an ask (e.g. staff wellbeing sessions)
Build relationships outside formal routes (community events, parkruns, Men’s Sheds)
Work through social prescribers, wellbeing coaches, diabetic teams
Accept that timing matters as much as enthusiasm
Provision isn’t the same as perception
Participants shared examples where parks, walks, or facilities existed, but were perceived as unsafe, unwelcoming, or “not for people like me”. Others described areas where no suitable provision existed at all, particularly in communities facing the greatest health inequalities.
The discussion highlighted that place-based movement work must consider:
Safety and belonging
Cultural relevance
Trust in spaces and organisations
In some cases, this means supporting new provisions. In others, it means redesigning how existing opportunities are presented and accessed.
Co-design at community level
One of the strongest messages, echoed repeatedly in chat, was the importance of co-design.
Successful examples shared during the session involved:
Designing programmes with participants, not for them
Adapting locations, language, and formats
Allowing word-of-mouth to do the real work
Progress should be measured in years, not months.
A shared challenge, not a solo task
This webinar didn’t offer a single solution. Instead, it painted a realistic picture:
Movement can support primary care
Community providers do want to help
Burnout is a system issue, not a personal failing
The work ahead is slower, relational, and collective, but it is already happening in pockets across the UK.
👉 Watch the full webinar recording here