The inaugural Physical Activity Pathways in Healthcare Symposium took place on the 14th September 2023 in the Hilton Kilmainham Hotel. The event was hosted by the HSE Health & Wellbeing – Healthy Eating Active Living programme and was attended by over 80 colleagues in the health services including Psychologists, Occupational Therapists and those working in Mental Health. Also in attendance were Health &Wellbeing staff with a physical activity brief and colleagues from the local authorities and local sports partnerships. The event was very popular with over 170 people registering and an extensive waiting list to attend. The HEAL programme are currently working to develop, refine, implement and evaluate a national Physical Activity Pathway in Healthcare Model (PAPHM) to enable people at risk and/or living with chronic disease to become and remain physically active in their communities.
The aim of the event was to facilitate the creation of a community within our healthcare system for knowledge sharing and learning to support the implementation of a physical activity pathway in healthcare model. The Symposium set the scene for the systematic integration of physical activity into prevention and management of chronic disease in the HSE with presentations on Making Every Contact Count, Designing a Physical Activity Pathway in Healthcare Model in the HSE and introducing the Integrated Care Programme for the Prevention and Management of Chronic Disease in the HSE.
The second keynote was Examples of National and Local Physical Activity Initiatives. Presentations included, Health Promotion in the Chronic Disease Hubs, MoveWell – a physical activity intervention for patients with chronic disease and Sport Ireland presented the Physical Activity for Health Officers pilot project. The afternoon session saw a lively round table World café debate where the audience explored and gave input and feedback into key enablers, challenges of the implementation of a physical activity pathway in the HSE. This information will form part of the design of the pathway and was extremely valuable. Presentations and Q&A panel discussions will be uploaded to the Health and Wellbeing Youtube chancel in due course and circulated to all those who attended and registered to attend.