Undergraduate examination and assessment of knowledge and skills is crucial in capacity planning for the future healthcare workforce in physical activity interventions

The WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) (#GAPPA)1 highlights the importance of a systems-wide approach to achieving the global goals for reducing physical inactivity at the national, community, individual and patient levels. Within this scope, objective 1.4 of that plan details the vision and strategy for capacity planning for the health workforce and the collaborations required for success. This objective is closely linked to existing global and national efforts to enable the future healthcare professional (HCP) workforce to have the capability and competencies to make every contact count for physical activity support and advice (via brief interventions). A significant part of these goals is to enable the future and current healthcare workforce to meet the challenges of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), sustainable development goals (SDGs) and person-centred healthcare, exemplars of which have been identified in most European countries.2 3 Indeed, a physical activity resource focused approach in undergraduate healthcare courses such as medicine, nursing and allied health is critical in higher education institutes’ (HEIs) strategies2 4 5 to deliver on these directives. Reaching the potential of knowledge and skill acquisition in physical activity interventions is a challenge in practice.6–8 Yet we know that HCP practice influences healthcare behaviours in patients: this is the basis of ‘making every contact count’ …