FEATURE: EXERCISE IS MEDICINE NE or parents of overweight children, are not offered advice and support of sufficient intensity to help achieve weight loss. Short et.al (2015) found that 18% of patients received a physical activity recommendation from their GP in the past 12 months. Understandably, GPs can be reluctant to raise issues with patients if they are not convinced that they have a management option which is going to help. This is especially the case given the time pressured nature of general practice, where the average consultation length is approximately 15 minutes. The time available for discussing issues not directly related to the person’s presenting complaints has been estimated to be 1 to 2 minutes. VOLUME 36 • ISSUE 2 2018 19 anihzuylaKannI/segamiytteg