Marjon Health and Wellbeing Clinics cited in new report

Released: 20.05.19

Plymouth Marjon University’s Health and Wellbeing Clinics have been cited in a new report which highlights the economic impact of Sport and Exercise Science courses at University.

Marjon is one of a number of universities mentioned in the report commissioned by The Physiological Society, Guild HE and Emsi, with Marjon mentioned for their variety of student-led Health and Wellbeing Clinics that both improves quality of life for patients with long term conditions and develops the skills of Marjon’s fledgling Sport and Health Science students.

Marjon’s Director of School for Sport, Health and Wellbeing, Dr Saul Bloxham, was invited to talk at the launch of the new report which concludes that Sport and Exercise Science in higher education provides £3.9 billion in added income to the UK economy every year, which is the equivalent of supporting over 147,000 jobs.

Dr Bloxham said, “This was an exciting opportunity to be involved in this project and presenting the cutting edge research and work we do at University was a real honour.

“I spoke about the Health and Wellbeing Clinics that we’ve been running at Marjon for the last 10 years and demonstrating the student-led benefits that exist for both patients and students. I spoke about the major impact that has had on the economic situation for the region and the city of Plymouth.”

Marjon’s Health and Wellbeing Clinics help patients with long term conditions like cancer, fibromyalgia, leg ulcers, back pain and chronic pain by looking at the whole person rather than the symptoms of the condition. Students lead activities with patients on exercise, flexibility, diet and hygiene to help the lifestyle of patients, and in doing so lessen symptoms of conditions.

“What we always do is look at the person rather than the disease,” said Dr Bloxham.

“Our philosophy is to look at lifestyle factors that could help people and having our students run these clinics really aids with their own employability when they graduate.”

The report aims to demonstrate the economic benefits of Sport and Exercise Science courses in the UK and was launched at an event held at the House of Commons last week.

Dr Bloxham continued: “We wanted to show influencers the value of this work and lobby for funding and support for the whole sector.

“Some people think Sport and Exercise Science at University is just about sport in the competitive sense but what we’re demonstrating is that it’s also about health and solving real-world problems in that area.”

Find out more about the report on Guild HE’s website.

Interested in studying Sport and Exercise Science at Marjon? Check out the course page.

Interested in a career in health? Check out what else we have on offer. 

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