Exercise referral practitioner
Also known as; Exercise referral instructor, GP referral practitioners
Exercise referral practitioners are health and fitness professionals who work with clients referred to them by healthcare providers due to specific health conditions which can be improved through structured physical activity.
What does a Exercise referral practitioner do?
Exercise referral practitioners are health and fitness professionals who work with clients referred to them by healthcare providers due to specific health conditions which can be improved through structured physical activity.
Sometimes referred to as GP referral practitioners, they work with other healthcare providers such as the NHS to support people to meet their exercise, physical activity and healthy eating goals.
As well as delivering sessions, exercise referral practitioners also design safe and effective programmes while ensuring a safe environment. They use their knowledge and skills to review and adapt programmes depending on a patient’s needs.
Referral schemes typically cater for these common medical conditions:
- Asthma and COPD
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson's disease
- Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes
- Obesity
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- High cholesterol
- Non-specific lower back pain
- Arthritis (RA and OA)
- Osteoporosis
Skills and behaviours
The skills and behaviours required to be an exercise referral practitioner are similar to that of a personal trainer. The following common or transferable skills are most frequently asked for by employers in personal trainer job adverts across the UK:
| Skills and behaviours | % prevalence in job ads |
|---|---|
| Teaching | 45% |
| First aid | 41% |
| Cleanliness | 24% |
| Management | 17% |
| Communication | 12% |
| Coaching | 10% |
| Organisational skills | 5% |
| Record keeping | 5% |
| Resilience | 5% |
| Active listening | 5% |
To find out more about the minimum knowledge, skills and behaviours an individual must understand and demonstrate to become a practitioner specialising in working with people with long term conditions, you can visit our population specialism professional standards library.
How to become a Exercise referral practitioner
To become an exercise referral practitioner, you need to complete a qualification such as:
- Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Clients with Long Term Conditions
- Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Participation in Physical Activity: Long-Term Health Conditions
- Level 3 Diploma in Exercise Referral
You can browse all CIMSPA-endorsed exercise referral qualifications and continuous professional development (CPD) courses in our Training Directory by searching under the ‘Working with People with Long Term Conditions’ specialism.
Course entry requirements, delivery and cost
To complete an exercise referral practitioner Level 3 qualification, you must first hold an existing Level 3 personal trainer or Pilates qualification.
This course can be delivered in an online, in-person or hybrid (online and in person) format, and the total course cost, study time and guided learning hours will vary depending on the delivery format, qualification and training provider you choose.
College or university
Some colleges and universities have embedded personal trainer qualifications into their learning programmes. You can browse our CIMSPA Endorsed Training Directory to check for colleges and universities that are recognised by CIMSPA for providing quality training to students. Here, you can also check what courses our endorsed colleges and universities offer as well as course entry requirements, a summary of course content/material and more information on how to apply.
Apprenticeships
Although there are no apprenticeships directly related to exercise referral, there are apprenticeships available to become qualified as a personal trainer. Once you have qualified as a personal trainer, you can then choose to complete an additional qualification in exercise referral.
You can find out more about completing an apprenticeship in personal training via The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) website.
Professional Standards
CIMSPA is the guardian of a single professional and apprenticeship standards framework for the sport and physical activity sector – outlining the minimum knowledge, skills and behaviours an individual must understand and demonstrate for every occupation and job role in the sector.
This standards framework is driving the development of quality education products for our workforce and supporting employers in assessing which job roles an individual is qualified for.
What's the best role for you?
Career paths and progression
Career pathways
Side Steps
Next Steps
Aspirational Steps
Career progression
As well as exploring new career pathways, as an exercise referral practitioner, you can also choose to progress your career by completing further training or continued professional development (CPD) in your role. This training can be added to enable exercise referral practitioners to show their expertise in additional populations, in different environments and with technical specialisms.
Examples of specialisms that may be added include are:
- Working with children 0–5
- Working with children 5–18
- Working in the school environment (out of curriculum).
You can explore CIMSPA-endorsed personal trainer CPD courses via our Endorsed Training Directory.
Find a job as a Exercise referral practitioner
The content of the job posts displayed on the CIMSPA jobs board are pulled in through feeds from websites which are not under the control of CIMSPA.
CIMSPA will not be liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented on the jobs board.