The National Centre for Sport & Exercise Medicine Operations Manager, Beth Brown, tells us about her Churchill fellowship, learning about physical activity services for people diagnosed with cancer in Canada and the USA.
In February 2020, I was awarded a Churchill fellowship to explore how we can make physical activity ‘business as usual’ within cancer care. The Churchill Fellowship is a charity which supports individual UK citizens to follow their passion for change, through learning from the world and bringing that knowledge back to the UK.
I first started planning my trip over 3 years ago but was unable to travel due to the pandemic. This year, I have been able to start my long-awaited fellowship which involves travelling to Canada and the USA.
There is strong evidence that physical activity is highly beneficial for people living with and beyond cancer. Research has shown it can reduce side effects and improve quality of life at all stages of cancer treatment. There is also evidence physical activity can reduce reoccurrence and improve survival rates in some cancers. Despite the evidence, physical activity is not recommended as part of standard cancer care, and the availability of support services is inconsistent across the UK.
My fellowship involves looking at how the culture within healthcare systems impacts the way physical activity is offered to patients, and how different contexts such as competitive healthcare markets and government policies influence service developments.
I have just returned from the first half of my travels, where I visited programmes in Alberta (Canada), Colorado (USA), and attended the American College of Sports Medicine World congress. The trip was a fantastic experience and I met with a range of leading researchers in exercise oncology, and visited innovative services.
Through my conversations, it was clear the challenges the UK faces in its attempt to integrate physical activity are echoed around the world. However, in Canada and USA there are some highly successful services that have supported many people with cancer to become active. I observed several common factors that allowed these services to be successful, these factors include persistency, bold leadership, dedication and passion. The services I visited had all been operating many years (some over 20 years), and all were initiated by prominent local leaders who were personally passionate about the benefits of physical activity. As in the UK, physical activity isn’t funded routinely by healthcare systems in Canada or USA. However, a passionate belief that people diagnosed with cancer need to be physically active, led to tenacious and creative approaches that allowed services to be delivered beyond research funding. I also learnt about work happening at strategic levels to influence policy makers, and the strategy both countries are using to ensure systematic change is achieved.
In October, I will be returning to USA to continue my learning. Following this, I will be writing a full report of my findings and developing recommendations. If you’d like to hear more about my fellowship and the learnings, please get in touch at beth.brown12@nhs.net
You can learn more about Churchill fellowship here Beth Brown (churchillfellowship.org)
