Physical Activity in Health Alliance award for promotion of physical activity with patients in palliative care

National award for palliative care team A team from NHS Tayside has won a prestigious Physical Activity and Health Alliance award from NHS Health Scotland for promoting physical activity in palliative care patients. A palliative care exercise programme encouraging people living with cancer and other long term conditions to be more active won the ‘raising physical activity awareness’ category at the awards ceremony held in Edinburgh. The exercise programme was developed to test research evidence about the benefits of physical activity. It was developed by Mandy Trickett, Macmillan Specialist Physiotherapist at Macmillan Day Care and Dr Jacqui Morris, Allied Health Professions Research Lead with NHS Tayside. Dr Morris said, “Implementing evidence from research into practice can be challenging, but we worked hard to develop a programme to meet the specific needs of the patients. “The response was fantastic and we are really pleased to be able to clearly demonstrate the benefits of physical activity to patients so clearly.” Mandy said, “Patients and staff have become much more aware of the benefits and importance of keeping active in every aspect of life. “This project helped us understand what patients prefer as we develop activities such as walking programmes within Macmillan Cancer Support’s national ‘Move More’ programme. “Winning this award will spread the important message that improving access to physical activity programmes can help relieve and improve many symptoms as a normal part of treatment before referral to specialist palliative care services.”