Recommendation 17

Physical activity must be recognised as an essential part of adult social care delivery—not an optional additional leisure activity. Equal weight must be given to the risks of inactivity as to the benefits of staying active so that older people receiving social care, whether at home or in a care setting, can remain healthy and confident. A preventive, strengths-based model of care can help older people maintain the abilities that underpin their health, wellbeing and independence. This will require a change in how the social care sector thinks about risk to support older people to remain active. Social care staff equipped with the right skills, and an approach that focuses on what people receiving care can and want to do, will be essential. (Conclusion, Paragraph 62)