Integrated Health and Care

Movement, physical activity, and sport plays a key role in health creation, it can be designed into health and care systems across Greater Manchester.

Physical activity is essential to health and wellbeing. People and patients who are active are significantly more likely to have better health and wellbeing, they’re less likely to require the health and care system and, if they do, they wait better and recover quicker. The benefits of physical activity far outweigh any risks for patients of all ages, and even those with health conditions. Learn more about NHS information on harnessing the benefits of physical activity.

Embedding physical activity into every aspect of healthcare benefits patients and staff. To support patients to live well, we can design movement into all health pathways. There’s lots of existing support out there to help you play your role.

We want to support better collaboration between the health and care system and our partners in physical activity, sport, transport, planning, the list goes on – it’s all part of our whole-system approach. Learn more about our work within complex systems here.

To discover more about the how physical activity ecosystem needs to adapt and evolve to be a better part of the solution to health, wellbeing and reduced inequalities, read this blog by GM Moving’s Exec Lead, Hayley Lever.

Resources for partners

Any amount of movement is good for us. And more is better. It’s good for physical, mental and social wellbeing, so however partners are using movement to support positive health outcomes for your community, we’re excited to hear about it.

We have gathered stories from work happening across Greater Manchester.

I'm a healthcare professional

Active Practices

Physical Activity Clinical Champions

GM Live Well

Integrated Health & Care Report

Mental Health

Children's Mental Wellbeing

Healthy, active places

Get inspired by our stories of change

Moving more has the power to change lives, it’s why GM Moving involves a huge range of partners from a variety of different sectors – all playing their role in the GM Moving in Action strategy.

Here are some stories of how designing physical activity into health and care pathways is already creating multiple positive health outcomes in Greater Manchester:

Nordic walking in Saddleworth

Nordic Walking with ABCDiagnosis

Fit 4 Life Gym in Bolton

Fit 4 Life Gym (Bolton)

Bury B.O.O.B.S Pram Walk

Bury B.O.O.B.S Pram Walk (Bury)

GM Walking Festival 2024

GM Walking Festival

Partner highlight: GM Active

GM Active deliver active wellbeing, as a collective of 12 separate leisure and community organisations. Their members operate in all ten local authority areas across Greater Manchester and accounts for 99 leisure and sports facilities across the city-region.

They regularly highlight the excellent work being done by members of the GM Active collective that showcases how their services and facilities can benefit the health and social care system.

From postural stability in Wigan, to strength and balance classes in Salford, from Good Boost sessions in Manchester to support for stroke patients in Bury, you will find inspiring case studies here.

Stories from around Greater Manchester

GM Walking Fund: Supporting communities to move more

Case study: Using social prescribing to improve women’s wellbeing in Stockport

Supporting people to age well

Pharmacy Walks in Oldham

Project highlight: #StrongEnough

In partnership with Salford University, GM Moving investigated how to support women in Greater Manchester to feel capable, motivated and able to incorporate strength-related physical activity into their daily life.

See our report and marketing recommendations

A group of women do yoga in a bright community room

The Active Partnership Network for Health

Health is a significant focus area for the Active Partnerships network and together, we are committed to supporting those who are inactive to move more, to improve both their physical and mental health. To do this, we work closely with stakeholders and partners in the health and care sector.

Discover the Active Partnership Health Network

Our story so far

Connecting with health and wellbeing is one of Sport England’s five key priorities in their national Uniting the Movement strategy, published in January 2021.

More than 150,000 healthcare professionals have received training, or accessed a training tool, to help patients feel benefits of being active as part of Sport England’s Moving Healthcare Professionals programme, in partnership with OHID.

In July 2022, as part of the Active Partnership Network’s collective work around health, wellbeing and inactivity, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire colleagues hosted a sharing and learning community event.

The event looked at cross-sector collaboration, putting the patient’s voice at the centre and the impact of positive case studies, read more on the day, including reflections from our CEO Hayley Lever, here.

In September 2022, the Health, Care and Inactivity sharing and learning community hosted an Open Space Event in Birmingham. Our CEO Hayley Lever hosted an open session with Active Partnership colleagues in October 2022 for those leading physical activity and health integration.

For more on our journey to integrate physical activity with health and care read Hayley Lever’s blog (April 2022).

A year later (September 2023), a further reflection and sense-making session was held for colleagues from across the country working to embed movement into health and social care to further understand what success looks like across the Active Partnership Network (see video, top right).

In partnership with Sport England and NHS Horizons, the event in Manchester aimed to collectively clarify what we mean by integrating physical activity into health and care systems, build relationships, and identify and share learnings around common opportunities and challenges.

In June 2024, GM Moving brought more than 100 health and care partners together to connect with new and developing approaches to embed movement into health systems in Greater Manchester.

The online event (available to re-watch) brought together colleagues from local authorities, primary care, public health, and leisure, with NHS GM, Active Partnerships, and national partners.

Webinar: How to embed movement into health and care systems

Learn about integrated care from our partners

Greater Manchester – next steps in developing as an Integrated Care System Podcast: How Active Lincolnshire and Active Dorset have been embedding physical activity in health and care pathways