Exploring the Talent Cultivation Pathway for the Integration of Sports and Medicine in China under the Perspective of Hierarchical Diagnosis and Treatment—Insights from the British Experience of Exercise Referral

The integration of sports and medicine is a crucial aspect of building a healthy China, and there is an urgent need to accelerate the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents. Since the 1990s, the United Kingdom has implemented the Exercise Referral scheme, accumulating rich experience in talent cultivation for the integration of sports and medicine through measures such as improving policy standards, innovating collaboration models between sports and medicine, and establishing assessment and incentive mechanisms. Based on a review of the UK's Exercise Referral practice, this paper analyzes the prominent problems faced by talent cultivation for the integration of sports and medicine in China, including insufficient top-level guidance, lagging construction of professional systems, lack of occupational qualification standards, and low participation of primary-level institutions. To address these issues, the paper proposes strengthening top-level design, formulating an overall plan for talent cultivation at the national level; deepening educational reforms, constructing a new model of interdisciplinary talent cultivation that integrates academic education and vocational training, leveraging the advantages of both medicine and sports; improving personnel admission and management systems, establishing occupational qualification certification and industry self-discipline supervision mechanisms; and focusing on primary-level needs, incorporating sports and medicine integration services into contracted family doctor services, and enhancing the exercise guidance capabilities of general practitioners and primary-level healthcare personnel. This paper provides decision-making references for improving China's talent cultivation system for the integration of sports and medicine and breaking through constraints, based on the context of China's healthcare service reforms and the vigorous development of the national fitness campaign in the new era.