The Frome Medical Practice has been awarded Active Practice Charter Status, an award set up jointly by both Sport England and the Royal College of General Practitioners to help promote more physical activity of both the staff working for GP practices as well as their patients.

To achieve the Charter Status the GP surgery had to demonstrate a commitment to actively promote physical health for all at the practice. Jo Fordham, who has been working at the practice for five years was recently appointed Active Practice Champion.

Some of the actions already being promoted by the practice have included working with Fusion Leisure to provide opportunities for staff to take part in physical activity.The team is looking forward to using the facilities again once it is safe to do so.

The practice has also now joined up with the Somerset Active workplace scheme. During lockdown, staff at the Enos Way surgery have also been able to access a whole range of free online classes. A Cycle to Work scheme is also available to all employees.

To achieve the Award, the practice also had to show how they also encouraged their own patients to take enough physical exercise. Karen Creffield is the Practice Manager at the Frome Medical Practice.

'We are a registered parkrun practice and I am delighted to report that on Saturday mornings there were a large number of patients (as well as our own staff!) running at the Old Showfield in Frome,' says Karen. 'We are all hoping that this activity can resume again as soon as possible. It has been sorely missed.'

'We work extremely closely with other local organisations such as Health Connectors and Frome Town Council,' adds Karen. 'We have always been keen promoters of the Couch to 5K scheme (where we also actively signpost participants to the parkrun) as well as the local regular walking groups. Any Public Health campaign supporting healthy lifestyle and regular exercise has our support and backing.'

'As a practice we are really committed to promoting the value of regular physical activity for both our patients and our staff, says Karen.'Even just a small amount of regular exercise daily can have huge health impacts and reduce health risks. We are delighted to receive theAward and also look forward to working with our partners locally to continue to promote health lifestyles and well-being.'