Over two thirds of the population is overweight or obese. Focusing on how we improve the lives of people living with obesity and overweight in West Yorkshire is really important. We know we don’t always get it right. The case studies on this page are a stark reminder of that.
We work with partners from across the partnership to co-produce our principles and shared values. By understanding why health and care services have not been able to fully support people to live a healthy weight and involving people in designing services we can find out what people need and what we need to change.
Working together we now know we need co-produced services which are culturally competent and striving for equity - services which focus on reducing health inequalities and view obesity as the long term, chronic condition it is. We know all care provided must be trauma informed and person centred, accessible, inclusive and stigma reducing.
To work towards these principles we are taking a West Yorkshire wide and whole life course approach, putting the individual at the heart of what we do. Co-production and partnership working is essential for success. We know listening and being heard is so important to getting this right and improving health for everyone. Many people in our region have a story to tell. Read some of those stories to find out more.
In this section you can hear directly from those with experience of obesity and overweight, the stigma, the stereotypes, the judgements and the need to look at the bigger picture and underlying issues. These are real stories but we have changed people's names.
Gemma's story
Gayle's story
Sasha's story
Jim's story
In the video below, Emm, Head of Improving Population Health and Sarah, Founder and Director, All About Obesity share their lived experience of obesity. Obesity is a chronic condition, not a lifestyle choice. It’s not just about behaviour change, although that has a part to play. Moving more is something that’s good for all elements of health, not just weight loss or weight gain. Blaming and shaming is detrimental to people’s health. Focusing on small incremental changes can have a big impact and looking at other factors like moving more, whether it’s a few more lengths in the pool or a few more steps, whatever it is that people enjoy is an improvement to not doing it.