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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nicola Davis Science Correspondent

GPs to prescribe walking and cycling in bid to ease burden on NHS

People walking and cycling in the spring sunshine  on Wimbledon Common in May.
People walking and cycling in the spring sunshine on Wimbledon Common in May. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex/Shutterstock

GPs around England are to prescribe patients activities such as walking or cycling in a bid to ease the burden on the NHS by improving mental and physical health.

The £12.7m trial, which was announced by the Department for Transport and will begin this year, is part of a wider movement of “social prescribing”, an approach already used in the NHS, in which patients are referred for non-medical activities.

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