Posted on: 24 March 2025
Members of the West Yorkshire Improving Population Health Programme (IPHP) team took part in a major obesity summit at the House of Lords on 18 March. They showcased the region’s new Obesity Strategy and highlighted the importance of a compassionate, trauma-informed approach to treatment and care.
The team included Emm Irving, Head of Improving Population Health, Lisa Buchanan, Senior Project Manager for Obesity and Programme Managers Paula Sherriff and Sally Lee.
The event, titled Shaping a Healthier Future: The Power of Policy in Addressing the Obesity Crisis, was hosted by Baroness Mary Goudie on behalf of IQVIA. Baroness Goudie opened the Summit synthesising the Committee’s Report submission to government of a Recipe for health: A plan to fix our broken food system; her call for urgent government action to fix the UK’s food system and tackle the obesogenic environment.
Emm Irving was one of four guest speakers, sharing West Yorkshire’s approach to obesity care and explaining how the region is working with other integrated care boards (ICBs) to create a more supportive system. She also spoke about her personal experience of living with obesity since early adulthood, adding a powerful, real-life perspective to the discussion.
After the event, the team also met Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Discussions led to several strong recommendations, including:
- urgent recognition by the UK government and royal colleges of obesity as a long-term medical condition
- recognition that combining digital pharmacological and public health strategies is the only way UK obesity and associated CVD metabolic outcomes will be transformed
- using polygenic risk scores to identify (at place) cohorts in urgent need of access pathways, which include access to innovative medicines and digital wrap around care
- development of a ring-fenced obesity-CVD metabolic drugs fund, funded by hypothecated taxation of the fast food sector
- making the case to Treasury that we cannot afford not to properly fund transforming pathways and adopting innovation in obesity if we are to improve the economic productivity of UK citizens as well as the health of the nation
A full set of recommendations will be shared next month in a consensus report for submission to the UK Government and policymakers.
For more information about West Yorkshire ICB’s Obesity Programme, contact Lisa Buchanan at lisa.
We have also produced an infographic showing how we are supporting people living with obesity.
