A new report launched in Westminster outlines preventative health innovations that could save the NHS millions, address widening health inequalities, and boost economic growth through improved productivity.

Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) report, Delivering the Prevention Legacy for the NHS: Innovations that Help People Move, makes key recommendations based on encouraging physical activity to improve treatment and prevent diseases from occurring in the first place. These include:

• Prioritising investment in community health building and community-driven health initiatives. Relieving pressure on primary care and hospitals through the expansion of community focused social prescribing – with every Integrated Care Board required to co-locate services in the community, so people have access to co-located health and leisure services within 20 minutes of home

• Integrating prehabilitation/rehabilitation programmes into clinical pathways delivered in the community – exemplified by the AWRC/Yorkshire Cancer Research Active Together programme

• Developing a healthcare workforce equipped to prioritise physical activity solutions – for example, embedding Physical Activity Clinical Champion roles locally to support the national Physical Activity Clinical Champions framework

Recommendations are based on existing successful programmes developed by the AWRC, including Active Together, which has observed improved cancer survival rates in those that took part and substantial savings for the NHS through reduced hospital stays.

If scaled up and introduced nationally, these recommendations can save the NHS millions, address widening health inequalities, and boost economic growth.

Without decisive action, by 2050 England faces, unprecedented increases in healthcare costs including 40% for cancer, 54% for coronary heart disease, 100% for dementia, and 85% for strokes.

Professor Rob Copeland, Director of the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, presented key recommendations from the report to policymakers, NHS leaders, and healthcare professionals.

Sheffield MPs Clive Betts and Abtisam Mohammed spoke at the event, and guests also heard from The Baroness Sater, Dr Simon Opher MP, Richard Stubbs (CEO of Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber) and Lucy Melleney (CEO of Darnall Well Being).

Professor Copeland said: “Our approach brings together academic expertise across disciplines with industry partners, healthcare providers, and community organisations. By prioritising health equity and focusing on evidence and impact, the Centre has delivered significant results, from improving patient outcomes to generating insights about the conditions necessary for addressing inequalities through place-based approaches.

“We need to move beyond the status quo. I’m looking for commitment and courage from the government to invest in prevention and community health building.”

Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive of Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber and Chair of the National Health Innovation Network, said: “It is absolutely essential that we create a shift from sickness to prevention. The research impacts that the AWRC demonstrate are of national significance. Preventative health not only reduces health inequalities, but it also supports economic growth, I hope this report will inform clinical practise all over the UK and beyond.”

The Westminster launch highlighted how the AWRC’s evidence-based approaches align with and support the Government’s vision to “Build an NHS Fit for the Future” and the findings of the 2024 Darzi review.

Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, said: “I want South Yorkshire to be the healthiest region in the country, and for us to tackle the health inequalities our communities live with. This research shows the benefits of prioritising work in and with our communities and helping everyone to be more active. This ground-breaking work of the AWRC will help us move from diagnosis to prevention and to create a healthier, happier and wealthier South Yorkshire.”