Working with healthcare professionals to promote physical activity.

The UK Chief Medical Officer guidelines provide convincing evidence of the role of physical activity (PA) in the prevention and management of a number of long-term conditions. Yet physical inactivity remains an important public health priority. Healthcare professionals (HCP) have been identified as being very important for the promotion of PA to their patients. Yet a number of barriers are faced by HCP in this respect including awareness, knowledge, self-efficacy, perceived competence, and time. This paper aims to share current projects and practices and reflect on the challenges of changing the behaviour of HCP to provide physical activity advice.