THE first birthday of an initiative to prescribe physical activity instead of medical treatments is being celebrated with a special parkrun in Swindon tomorrow.

GPs and practice staff from all over the town have pledged to take part in the event in Lydiard Park, to mark a year of the parkrun practice initiative.

It is part of a national GP parkrun pledge day, which will see more than 1,400 GPs and practice staff take part in parkruns across the UK.

Swindon parkrun event director, Emma Sperring said: “We’re encouraging everyone to get involved. It’s open to all GPs and practice staff in Swindon. It’s going to be a lovely event.”

The aim of the parkrun practice initiative is to promote the social prescribing of physical activity, as part of the NHS’s commitment to encourage the use of non-medical treatments for the causes of ill health.

Launched by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the initiative helps link GP practices with their local 5 km parkrun.

Four Swindon practices have so far pledged to take part, including Ashington House Surgery in West Swindon, Kingswood Surgery in Park North, Westrop Medical Practice and Merchiston Surgery in Highworth.

Terry Walker, practice manager at Westrop, said: “It’s extremely important to take part in things like this. Getting active and taking part in activities like parkrun can help with a whole range of health problems.

“As times have changed and social prescribing has become more important, it is felt by everyone at our practice that this is just a great way to start getting involved in social prescribing.”

Mr Walker added: “This will be our first parkrun on Saturday, so this one for us is mostly aimed at staff and we’re hoping to get as many staff as possible to join us.

“We’re not sure how many at this stage, but we will definitely have one GP, one nurse and one practice manager.”

It is hoped the day will raise awareness of parkrun across the health sector and encourage people to get active.

Swindon parkrun takes place every Saturday since starting in 2010. So far 16,450 runners have taken part, and Saturday will mark the 450th event.

“Swindon parkrun is the biggest park run in the south west, and the most well established, said Mrs Sperring.

“We have lots of different people who attend, and a beautiful park to run in.

“You don’t have to run, you can walk or volunteer instead if that suits. The event is free and accessible to anyone. It’s a community run and everyone can get involved,” she added.

Nationwide, more than 800 general practices have signed up to be a parkrun practice, including Westrop Medical Practice. “Parkrun is something we’re going to take part in regularly,” said Mr Walker.

“We’ve recently signed up to become a parkrun practice and this means we can actually refer patients to take part in the parkrun as part of their treatment.

“It will be something we can actually prescribe, he added. “We see patients with a whole range of health issues and if the clinician feels fitness and socialising is something that might be good for them, this is something we can prescribe for them.”

He admitted he was feeling a bit nervous about taking part tomorrow. “There’s a whole variety of emotions really, ranging from being quite nervous as I haven’t done any training for some time, to the thinking it will be quite easy. So we’ll see,” he said.

Mrs Sperring added: “Parkrun caters for all ages and abilities, so please don’t feel like you have to be a well established runner.

"If any additional GPs or practice staff do want to come along but aren’t currently a register practice, just make yourselves known to us on the day. We’d love to see you there.”

To pledge to parkrun visit r1.dotdigital-pages.com/p/49LX-530/gp-pledge-to-parkrun