DR JOHN MORGAN

INTERVIEW
Morgan: “Ours is one of the few
GP practices in the country with
a cardiovascular gym inside it”
my patients cost the hospital £8,000 per
1,000 population, compared to £12,000–
13,000 per 1,000 population for another
local GP surgery of similar size and
standing. That’s a huge argument to
prove the cost-effectiveness of exercise.
“Weight loss was also positive: 61
per cent of those doing our 12-week
programme lost weight from exercising.
I think that’s very interesting, because
the lack of media advocacy with regard
to exercise has been a problem over the
years. Diet has been the only thing that’s
been pushed, but exercise is also key.
Morgan’s surgery runs 12-week
in-house exercise programmes
“The other key fi nding was that
85 per cent of people changed the
amount of exercise they did away from
the class – they were continuing to
exercise independently.
“The one thing the study didn’t do
was look at a control group of people
who hadn’t attended the exercise class,
which would have made it a bit more
robust. The quality of data therefore
wouldn’t stand up in front of a medical
conference – they could argue that
the weather was nice that year and
everyone went walking.
“So yes, it’s simple data, but if a
health club were able to offer me
similar data on their own programmes
– for example, showing me a
measurable improvement in a range of
health markers – I’d be happy with that.
And I think other GPs probably would
be too. So I’d really encourage gyms to
liaise with their local GPs and start this
sort of programme.”
GP resistance
But therein lies a big part of the
problem, as other GPs don’t seem as
keen as Morgan to embrace physical
activity. Why does he think that is
“There’s always the issue of training,
and the fact that medical schools focus
on disease and treatment of disease
rather than health and prevention of
disease. Junior doctors need to be
trained in the benefi ts of exercise and
how to talk about it to their patients.
“Another big diffi culty is where
funding for ‘exercise as a benefi t to
health’ now sits. It would generally sit
in the public health department, which
is separate from the funding for general
practice-commissioned activity. And
that makes for a grey area, because
although I fundamentally believe telling
the whole population to exercise is a
good thing, nothing beats sitting in front
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November/December 2014 © Cybertrek 2014