Keynote speakers to include Simon Stevens, Nicola Blackwood, Jennie Price and Dr Chris Van Tulleken
ukactive today unveiled the detailed agenda for National Summit 2016, featuring an unprecedented line-up of thought leaders from the worlds of physical activity, health, and politics.
Taking place at Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre on 9 November, this year’s Summit combines networking and highly-topical breakout sessions with an impressive collection of keynotes, including a speech from the chief executive of the NHS, Simon Stevens.
As head of Europe’s largest single employer, Simon Stevens is expected to discuss the future of the health service and the important role of prevention in helping to shape it. The NHS England CEO has taken the lead on this theme by unveiling a raft of workplace wellness initiatives, including a £600m national incentive fund to help frontline NHS staff stay fighting fit through a range of physical activity and healthy eating offerings.
The central theme for this year’s Summit will be Physical Activity: Always Moving Forward, exploring how the sector can support the NHS to deliver its ambitions for a healthy, active nation and ensure physical activity is at the heart of the preventative health agenda.
The Summit will feature a series of breakout sessions bringing together leading public health and physical activity experts to explore key topics such as delivering physical activity as part of the government’s new strategies, the role of prevention in the future of the NHS, and the professionalisation of the physical activity sector. In addition to Simon Stevens, there will be keynotes from Public Health Minister Nicola Blackwood, Sport England CEO Jennie Price, ukactive Chair Tanni Grey-Thompson and ukactive Executive Director Steven Ward.
There will also be a joint session led by Professor Sir Muir Gray CBE, Chief Knowledge Officer to the NHS, and Chris Van Tulleken, a doctor and TV presenter. Having recently featured in the high-profile BBC documentary The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs, the pair will deliver a topical talk looking at the importance of the preventative agenda in cutting down Britain’s dependence on prescription pills.
As the marquee event in the physical activity calendar, Summit 2016 will gather more than 500 thought leaders on public health and physical activity, offering invaluable networking opportunities and the chance to gain unique insights into the wider issues facing the sector.
The event will also serve as the launchpad for ukactive’s latest report, Blueprint for an Active Britain: Milestones Review. The document will build on the foundations laid by last year’s Blueprint for an Active Britain report, assessing the key areas of progress to date. These have included the adoption of many Blueprint recommendations in the recent physical activity strategies put forward by the government and Sport England. Backed by a broad coalition of key stakeholders, the new report will make a series of new policy recommendations for the year ahead and outline key areas of priority the physical activity sector.
Looking forward to the event, ukactive CEO Steven Ward said: “We felt it would be difficult to top last year’s Summit in terms of quality, but the line-up of heavy hitters due to speak on the day will take our marquee political event to new heights.
“Summit is a golden opportunity to establish key business contacts, glean insights from top-tier keynote speakers and take part in breakout sessions on major topics affecting our sector, such as delivering on the government’s new strategies, behaviour change among society’s least active and embedding more movement in the workplace.
“The QEII will be packed with leaders from the public, private and third sectors, coming together to focus their collective firepower on the pressing need to create a more active nation.”
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, legendary Paralympian and chair of ukactive said: “I am delighted to have Simon Stevens – Chief Executive of NHS England delivering a keynote at our National Summit in London on the 9th November 2016. This is a seminal moment for the physical activity sector and symbolic of its importance on the frontline in the fight against the dangers of sedentary lifestyles.
“Whereas last year was about setting a vision for an active nation, this year we turn our focus to how we can develop and deliver this practically, connecting government and stakeholders from the public, private and third sectors to ensure that physical activity is at the heart of the preventative public health agenda.”
More People More Active More Often
