GPs around England are to prescribe patients activities such as walking or cycling in a bid to ease the burden on the NHS by improving mental and physical health.

The £12.7m trial, which was announced by the Department for Transport and will begin this year, is part of a wider movement of “social prescribing”, an approach already used in the NHS, in which patients are referred for non-medical activities.

In 2020 the government launched trials into the impact of getting involved in the natural environment on mental health and wellbeing, while social prescribing has also been embraced in many other countries, including Australia where GPs have begun prescribing 5km parkruns to patients.

Minister for health, Maria Caulfield, said the UK is leading the way in embedding social prescribing in the NHS and communities across the country.

“Getting active is hugely beneficial for both our mental and physical health, helping reduce stress and ward off other illness such as heart disease and obesity,” she said.

The latest trial will focus specifically on boosting active travel and will take place in 11 local authority areas in England, including Cornwall, Bradford, and Leeds, with free bike loans, all-ability cycling taster days, and walking and cycling mental health groups among the pilot projects to be supported by the funding.

The Department for Transport said that alongside the trials, which are part of the government’s Gear Change plan published in 2020 to boost walking and cycling, infrastructure so people feel safe when undertaking such activities.

It is hoped the pilots, which are to be delivered within the next three years through existing social prescribing systems and networks, will help shed light on whether activities such as cycling and walking can help reduce GP appointments and patients’ reliance on medication, among other measures of individuals’ health.

Chris Boardman, the former Olympic cycling champion and commissioner of National Active Travel, welcomed the move.

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“Moving more will lead to a healthier nation, a reduced burden on the NHS, less cancer, heart disease and diabetes, as well as huge cost savings,” he said. “This trial aims to build on existing evidence to show how bringing transport, active travel and health together can make a positive impact on communities across England.”

However Dr David Strain, chair of the BMA board of science, said more needs to be done.

“These excellent pilots are to be welcomed but to meaningfully reduce health inequalities, climate change and physical inactivity, much more investment will be needed over the long-term, both in public health approaches and capacity and active transport infrastructure across the country,” he said.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said he welcomed news of the extra investment, enabling the NHS to try new ways of supporting mental health, such as through social prescribing schemes.

But, he added, prescribing exercise is not a miracle cure for treating mental health problems.

“What we urgently need to see is proper investment into our country’s mental health services,” he said. “Only that will enable us to deliver support to the 1.6 million people currently sat on waiting lists, and the 8 million people who would benefit from mental health support right now but are deemed by the system not to be unwell enough to access it.”

It is not only physical activities that have received attention under the banner of social prescribing: the government has previously been urged to fund reading-based activities to tackle loneliness.

Now a survey of more than 1,600 adults by the charity The Reader has suggested 75% of those who read regularly believe it has a positive impact on their mental health.

Katie Clark, director of literature at The Reader, said its free reading groups are a lifeline for people in tough times.

“At a time when so many of us, especially many younger people, those experiencing mental health difficulties or poverty, are facing growing pressures, we’re calling for more shared reading groups in more communities and services all over the UK” she said.