Department of Health West Midlands s1

Department of Health West Midlands Obesity Update Bulletin

Issue 11 July 2009

NEWS explore health and wellbeing issues. The aim is to empower young people to take control of their lives by: raising their Change4Life awareness of risk seeking behaviour; signposting to further sources of support Everyone supporting Change4Life at local and advice; supporting healthier choices level, including all health care practitioners and helping to set ‘SMART’ health and communicators, are encouraged to improvement objectives. The Teen register on the Change4Life website so that LifeCheck concept was a commitment made they receive future newsletters. You can in the White Paper ‘Our Health, Our Care, register at:- Our Say’ in 2006. For further details go to:- http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/default. http://www.teenlifecheck.co.uk/ aspx National Obesity Observatory or call 0300-123-1004. May Newsletter The website contains local examples of good practice, national, regional and local data The National Obesity Observatory (NOO) and has regular updates and network links to newsletter is produced twice yearly and is key organisations. designed to support professionals working in obesity and related fields, with updates on West Midlands Obesity NOO projects, publications and data analysis, reports and statistics from other Website organisations, wider news and forthcoming events. You may view the newsletter at:- Three web addresses take you to this one stop shop for local and regional partners http://www.noo.org.uk/ concerned with obesity, food & physical activity:- UK’s First Sustainable Travel www.obesitywm.org.uk City www.foodwm.org.uk www.pan-wm.org.uk Large urban areas across England are being given the chance to bid to become the The site will shortly be developed to include country's first Sustainable Travel City. Up to a Change4Life section. £29 million over the next 3 years will be invested in at least one of England's largest Teen LifeCheck cities to encourage greener travel choices. These could include plans to support walking, cycling and initiatives to improve The Department of Health (DH) has public transport. It follows the success of launched Teen LifeCheck, a website to help the Department of Transport’s (DfT) three young people between the ages of 12-15 1 Sustainable Travel Towns who, over the last predominantly with formula milk. They have five years, have seen car use fall by up to been developed for the Department of 9%, walking increase by up to 14% and Health by the Royal College of Paediatrics cycling increase at least 12%. The aim of and Child Health, based on the WHO work. the Sustainable Travel City is to ease It is hoped the new charts will play a role in congestion, reduce carbon dioxide establishing breastfeeding as the norm and emissions and increase levels of physical help to identify babies at risk of obesity in activity in the local area. By achieving this, later life. For further information visit:- 'the City' will provide a model for others to follow. http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/Research/UK-WHO- Growth-Charts The major urban areas currently eligible to apply suffer from the worst congestion in the DHWM Regional Breastfeeding country. The 9 areas are; Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Peer Support Resources Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, West of England (Bristol), The Department of Health West Midlands Nottingham and Leicester. Regional ‘Breastfeeding Peer Supporters Pack’ was launched in May 2009 at the National Breastfeeding Awareness Week National Breastfeeding event. This is an introductory level course Awareness Week 2009 and has been distributed to all areas of the West Midlands who are developing peer The West Midlands Regional Celebration support courses. This resource pack has a Event was held at the Light House Cinema Tutors Manual and accompanying Peer in Wolverhampton. The event launched the Supporters Handbooks, based on best Best Beginnings DVD in the West Midlands practice. The project has been the result of and the New World Health Organisation regional collaboration between NHS staff, (WHO) Growth Charts, including the Royal the Breastfeeding Network, La Leche College of Paediatrics and Child Health League UK and an independent tutor from web-cast. There was regional input from the Relaxed Birth and Parenting. BFN and La Leche League UK, plus a local school’s nursery class performed a song For copies of the tutors manual and about breastfeeding. The Department of participants handbook please contact: Health national leads for Infant Feeding and [email protected] Healthy Start Vitamin Uptake delivered www.wmpho.org.uk/infantfeeding presentations and workshops that have helped develop regional action plans for Healthy Start – Seminars to Breastfeeding and Healthy Start. Support Take Up by PCTs The event attracted 200 adults (public and staff) and around 75 infants and children. Thanks to the families, Breastfeeding Peer Supporters, NHS, Children’s Centres, Local Authority, Independent and Voluntary Sector staff for making this event a great success.

World Health Organisation Both nationally and regionally there is a very (WHO) Growth Charts low uptake of the vitamin supplementation element of the Healthy Start scheme. The The UK is to adopt new WHO growth charts Regional Director of Public Health (RDPH) is which are based on breast-fed babies. The very keen to increase uptake within the new charts will replace the 40 year old region and she has worked with Directors of growth charts based on babies fed Public Health and their staff across the 2 region to identify common areas of concern New Project Targets for PCTs. These are:- Overweight Mothers  supply & distribution of vitamins Worcestershire PCT is taking part in a 12  awareness raising with health and other month pilot project to support overweight professionals working with children & ante and post-natal women who are eligible families to claim Healthy Start vouchers.  awareness raising with the public  performance management and data The Maternal and Early Years Healthy collection. Weight Service is designed to help improve the healthy eating habits and physical The RDPH has asked for a series of activity of pregnant women and women that seminars to be organised, to help support have recently delivered and supported PCTs increase take up of the scheme and breastfeeding. Healthy Weight Advisors will specifically vitamin supplementation within provide one to one or group sessions for their local area. Seminars will be held on:- women who are referred to the service, to support and promote healthy lifestyle Friday, 11 September changes that will be benefit the baby, the Thursday, 17 September mother and the family as a whole. Friday, 9 October The service aims to address evidence They will be held at the Government Office suggesting that babies born to families for the West Midlands (Birmingham) at where one parent is obese have a 30 to 40% 9.30 am (and end at 12.30 pm). If you would chance of becoming obese themselves. like to attend one of these events, please Where both parents are obese this contact: [email protected] percentage rises to 80%. Obesity and being overweight shortens life expectancy and increases the risk of Type 2 Diabetes, heart Healthy Start disease, some cancers and other conditions. Communications Materials www.worcspct.nhs.uk/default.aspx?pid=17 The national Healthy Start Team are currently trying to improve the way that the voucher letters sent to beneficiaries prompt Parental Complacency Plays a them to claim their vitamin supplements. Role in the Growing Problem of They want to make them clearer and more Obesity eye-catching, and simpler for NHS staff to check. Almost 70% of parents with overweight or obese children believe that their children’s They are also in the process of reviewing weight is normal, according to a new study. and refreshing all existing Healthy Start Dr Angela Jones and colleagues from communication materials. The aims are: Newcastle University weighed and measured to give more information about Healthy Start more than 600 children aged between 6 and vitamins, focusing on increasing awareness 8 and then asked the parents how they about the scheme among first time pregnant perceived their child’s weight. The parents’ women and communicating important responses suggested that many thought nutritional messages more regularly and their children were simply going through a more effectively to beneficiaries. phase and that their weight could be attributed to “puppy fat”. The study supports the idea that parental complacency plays a large role in the growing problem of obesity.

3 For further information go to:- NCMP - detailed secondary http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article- analysis of the 2007/08 1178366/Its-just-puppy-fat-How-parents- National Dataset deceive-overweight-children.html This new report is now available from the The Good Life National Obesity Observatory. It presents detailed secondary analyses of the 2007/08 - Fun Ways to Family Health National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) national dataset to help further our understanding of the epidemiology of child height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) across England. It attempts to explain some of the findings presented in the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care 2007/08 NCMP report.

Data on the prevalence of underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obesity are analysed, comparing the 2007/08 data to the 2006/07 data and to the 1990 baseline. The report also presents analysis by Opportunities to lead a healthier lifestyle are deprivation and ethnic group, examines how all around us. Even health information and the distribution of BMI differs by age and sex advice is available at the touch of a button, of the sample population and looks at the yet despite all of this, the outlook for the association between obesity prevalence and health of children does not paint a rosy the characteristics of individual children and picture. the PCTs in which they were measured. The report also investigates participation and As a response to this challenge Cannock data quality issues. Chase PBC and its partners have developed ‘The Good Life’. The partners include The report is available at:- Cannock Chase District Council, South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust, Cannock http://www.noo.org.uk/ Chase Children’s Centre, Staffordshire County Council and Multistory. Evaluation of the National Local families worked with Multistory artists Healthy Schools Programme and staff from the partnership and venues. Together they developed fantastic ideas to The National Centre for Social Research has encourage their families to lead healthier published an “Evaluation of the National lifestyles. These were then tried and tested, Healthy Schools Programme: Interim to see if they actually worked. The result is Report”. The main objective of the research ‘The Good Life’ which offers clever ideas was to measure the impact of the and fun ways to motivate families to start programme on the behaviour, knowledge living ‘The Good Life!’ and attitudes of pupils and to identify the mechanisms by which impacts are achieved The message is now being spread to other or obstructed. The report concludes that the families through ‘The Good Life’ Activity Programme is valued by schools because Pack and website (www.thegoodlife.uk.net) they believe that promoting physical activity promoting play to families, as part of living a is part of their core role. healthier lifestyle.

4 NCMP West Midlands’ Earlier this year Let's Get Cooking’s first national competition - the cookathon – saw Workshop – 29 June 2009 around 24,000 participants all cooking on one day. Each participating club involved as The presentations and summary feedback many people as possible in cooking a from this workshop will be available shortly healthy dish at the same time. The West on the West Midlands’ obesity website Midlands’ winner, announced this month, is (www.obesitywm.org.uk). Roberts Primary School, Lower Gornal, Dudley which cooked Let’s Get Cooking’s The national team advised that are keen to No Pastry Cheese Pie, with the whole receive local comments on how routine school including nursery and reception feedback to parents is working so far. They children joining in. They set up the main have developed a questionnaire and this will school hall as a mass preparation area, and be distributed to attendees shortly. each year group came down at an allotted time to help, peel, chop, grate, mash and Let’s Get Cooking cook the ingredients to make a pie for each class. When all the pies were assembled, the school kitchen staff helped out by finishing off the pies in the main school ovens. Once cooked, the pies were delivered to each classroom and every child tried them. The school sent home the recipe and instructions with every child as well. On the day, Let's Get Cooking club Let's Get Cooking has been working in the members were the demonstrators. They West Midlands for 18 months. It is a national ensured all children and staff entering the network of healthy cooking clubs for hall were wearing aprons and had their children, families and the wider community, hands sanitised with hand gel. They were backed by £20 million from the Big Lottery responsible for weighing out ingredients and Fund. ensuring each class had the correct ingredients to make their pie. A total of 797 Let’s Get Cooking clubs receive: people cooked, 692 at school and 105 at home. Roberts Primary school wins a  funding for cooking equipment and cheque for £250 to spend on its Let’s Get running costs Cooking club.  training for adult helpers and leaders  a wide range of printed and online The Let's Get Cooking team in the West resources Midlands, Deborah Robb and  access to regional staff who provide Laura Needham, is now planning the Let’s support and advice. Get Cooking launches for Hereford, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Solihull and The latest places on offer, in Stoke-on-Trent Warwickshire in autumn 2009 and spring and Staffordshire, were filled almost 2010. To get involved or learn more, please immediately with 62 clubs signed up and email Deborah at ready to start training in September. This [email protected] brings the total number of clubs in the region to 225 and a national total of more than For more information about Let's Get 2,500. This includes associate clubs, which Cooking, including associate club are recruited from schools which already applications and a list of existing clubs, have established cooking clubs. Associate please visit:: clubs receive funding, expert support and http://www.letsgetcooking.org.uk/Home access to a wide range of resources. The Big Lottery Fund’s Well-being programme provides funding to support the development of healthier lifestyles and to 5 improve well-being. For more information, Children Take STEPS to Tackle please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk Weight Issues

Change4Life Two new projects in NHS Birmingham East - How Are the Kids? & North area are offering help to families worried that their children are gaining too The results from the Change4Life ‘How Are much weight. the Kids?’ survey launched in January 2009 shows that 72% of children do not get STEPS, aimed at teenagers aged from 12 to 60 minutes of physical activity outside of 16, and Little STEPS, aimed at 4 to 8 year school. According to the Department of olds, was launched in May. The projects are Health, the biggest national survey of run by the Birmingham Community Nutrition children’s diet and physical activity levels and Dietetic Service and will initially involve also shows that 45% watched TV or played weekly sessions led by a registered dietician, non-active video games before school and a dietetic assistant or both, providing fun, that only 22% did something active after interactive sessions designed to help their evening meal. children and their families make changes to help them lead healthier lifestyles. For The survey, carried out by the Change4Life further information, go to:- team in January 2009, received more than 260,000 responses from families across http://www.benpct.nhs.uk/_home/index.aspx England. Since the survey began, families have been sent tailored support packs to Sport Participation Indicators help them make changes to their daily routines. According to Sport England, the Active www.healthyweight4children.org.uk/resource People survey is the largest ever survey of /view.aspx?RID=78817 sport and active recreation undertaken in Europe. Sport England has produced a briefing note explaining the rationale and definitions for the indicators used to measure Children Walking to School sports participation in the Active People Get More Quality Family Time Survey.

New research has shown that parents who http://www.sportengland.org/summary_of_sport_parti walk their children to school instead of cipation_indicators-2.pdf driving are spending more quality social time with their family. Currently, nearly half of primary school children don’t walk to school IN OTHER REGIONS ...... regularly, with 41% being driven in cars Making the Links between instead. The new study, published by Living Streets to mark the start of Walk to School Obesity and Well-being - Week, found that 44% of parents of children a briefing paper developed for who are driven to school spend 5 minutes or CSIP Northwest by Lynn Snowden, less having a quality conversation with their Director of Inukshuk Consultancy child. One of the main reasons is that children who are driven are more likely to Mental well-being is a key factor in obesity participate in lone activities such as listening and weight management. This briefing to their MP3 players rather than talk to their begins to outline the current evidence base parents during the journey. on the links between obesity and mental well-being. It aims to raise awareness of the www.healthyweight4children.org.uk/resource links and encourage practitioners to /view.aspx?RID=81337 consider mental well-being while planning obesity and weight management initiatives. 6 The briefing sets out the evidence using the Healthy Eating for Older four factor framework used for mental well- being impact assessments (MWIA) as People outlined in the MWIA toolkit also developed The eating habits of children have been the by CSIP. Also included are definitions of subject of national debate even before TV obesity and mental well-being, information chef Jamie Oliver’s series on school about the populations affected and the dinners. But the same cannot be said for evidence grouped under each of the mental elderly people – despite many not eating a well-being factors: enhancing control, healthy and balanced diet. increasing resilience and community assets, Some councils, however, are tackling the facilitating participation and promoting issue head-on. They are using their inclusion. A reference list is cited. It is influence over everything from meals on hoped that this briefing will be organic and wheels to the menus in care homes. that people will continue to add evidence references and continue to build on the West Sussex’s Meals on Wheels Initiative current evidence base and to share this with others. With a choice of three main courses and desserts, accompanied by a freshly- MWIA reports and the MWIA toolkit are now prepared salad sourced from local produce, included on the West Midlands Public the menu is impressive. But this is not the Health Observatory’s Health Impact offering of any restaurant. Instead, it is West Assessment Gateway. Sussex County Council’s meals on wheels service. To access the full briefing paper on making the links between Obesity and Well-being go Many councils now deliver batches of frozen to meals intended to last pensioners up to http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/item.aspx? week. But the West Sussex outsourced RID=72106 service harks back to the old days. Food is prepared daily and delivered to the homes To view an MWIA of a family-based Obesity of more than 2,000 pensioners. Meals cost Intervention go to £3.20 a day. Each dish is carefully thought http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/item.aspx? through to provide pensioners with a RID=72076 balanced and nutritious meal.

Mental well-being Impact Assessment & It comes after a sustained push to improve Healthy Weight management in the North the service since 2004. Then a two-week West of England. To view this report on the audit found the meals were not meeting process and outcomes arising from a national standards. Subsequently, a range capacity building programme go to of seasonal salads and fruit-based desserts http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/item.aspx? have been introduced. In addition, the RID=72105 council has worked with suppliers to reduce the salt and saturated fat content of dishes. To access the MWIA toolkit go to Bruce Treloar, a Trading Standards Officer, http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/item.aspx? has helped oversee the changes. He says RID=44945 “we have really started to think about what we are offering. There is now a big focus on For more information on MWIA please school meals nationally, which is quite right. contact Kate O’Hara at West Midlands But we have also tried to do something Regional Development Centre similar with our meals on wheels”. [email protected] While the need for calories declines as people get older, nutritionists say the elderly still need the same – if not more – nutrients and vitamins. Unfortunately, not enough of the UK’s nine million pensioners are getting 7 these. One in seven over-65s are Young at Heart malnourished or at severe risk of malnourishment, according to estimates. Young at Heart was launched in 2005 for With an ageing population the problem day centres and residential homes. It judges could get worse. premises on the nutritional content of their June Copeman, an expert in elderly nutrition food, hygiene standards and the help staff at Leeds Metropolitan University, says local give to the elderly. The councils' government has a huge role to play. There environmental health officers monitor the are 400,000 people in care homes and hygiene standards, while PCT officials use another 200,000 in nursing homes. In questionnaires to assess the rest. In total, addition, meals on wheels, lunch clubs and nearly 30 places currently have the award, day centres remain popular, where they are which they are allowed to use during provided. promotional activity. In 2002, a set of national minimum Useful links: where to find out more:- standards for care homes was established. This called for weight to be monitored and a http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/ccm/portal/ varied and balanced range of meals to be http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/index.asp? offered three times a day. pgid=1912 Copeman has also helped to develop a set http://www.warrington.gov.uk/ of guidelines for the Caroline Walker Trust. http://www.surreyhealth.nhs.uk/ This details recommended calories, fibre, http://www.bda.uk.com/ sugar, protein, vitamins and minerals for http://www.cwt.org.uk/ different age groups in different settings. Elderly people need a nutrient-dense diet. Booklet for People with Things like fish, meat and vegetables are important. There are lots of examples of Learning Difficulties good practice out there and local government is playing a key part. We just Nottingham City Council’s Learning need more of them. Disabilities Service has produced an innovative 18-page booklet, “Healthy Eating Agewell in Sheffield & Exercise” which presents easily accessible information on the importance of physical Sheffield City Council is another local activity and good nutrition. It was written for authority that is addressing the issue. It has people with learning difficulties but is worked with the Agewell charity to provide valuable to anyone who finds reading information packs to local lunch clubs on English difficult. The booklet uses providing healthy and safe meals. photographs, symbols and brief, basic text to convey as simply as possible messages Lunch clubs and day centres in other parts about healthy eating and exercise. of Yorkshire have also started helping elderly people do internet shopping. The Council has received a lot of positive Warrington Borough Council has run salt feedback about the booklet from a range of awareness training for a range of staff sources. For further information, contact working with elderly people. But with many Martin Jackaman, Project Manager, Day of these services outsourced or run by the Service Modernisation, Learning Disabilities voluntary and private sector, some councils Service, Nottingham City Council on: have looked at ways of encouraging good 0115-9151077. practice. Four borough councils – Elmbridge, Runnymede, Guildford and Spelthorne – have worked together with Surrey Primary Care Trust to promote healthy eating for the elderly through an awards scheme. 8 CONSULTATIONS For further details please to:- http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/ptshortcpd/pgpt/ Physical Activity Alliance Pages/pgpt.aspx?itemID=570 The development of a Physical Activity Alliance is one of the commitments in the WANT AN ARTICLE IN THE Government’s Be Active, Be Healthy NEXT EDITION? strategy. The purpose of the consultation is to confirm the need for co-ordination and support for the sector through the Alliance If you would like an article included in the and to determine how it will operate – how it next (October) newsletter, please email it, will be funded, how it will deliver the projects by Friday, 25 September:- it is tasked with and how it will be governed. [email protected] The consultation consists of a number of stakeholder interviews and events designed We are very keen to cover as many local to capture the views of the sector, in stories as possible. conjunction with an online consultation to obtain written feedback and suggestions. The online consultation is now live and will run until 31 July. The consultation will enable the Alliance to take into account your organisation’s views and advice on its future structure, strategy and operation and can be found at http://www.activityalliance.org/ COURSES

Weight Management Pg Cert (Coventry University)

This programme is intended for students from a diverse range of disciplines for example practice nurses, school nurses, health visitors, physical activity specialists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, lifestyle trainers and environmental health officers, who wish to further their understanding of weight management to support their practice.

The course consists of 3 mandatory modules, the first provides a grounding in diet and nutritional sciences while the second and third explore the complex range of factors which contribute to the development of overweight and obesity and critically analyse interventions which are used to prevent and treat overweight/obesity at the individual, group and population level.