Obesity is a significant public health concern across our system. In West Yorkshire, 27% of adults are living with obesity with 1 in 5 children living with overweight or obesity at reception age (4-5 years) and 1 in 3 children by year six (10-11 years).
We are working with partners to co-produce a strategy to support a compassionate and trauma-informed approach to weight management and living well with obesity.
We want to reframe the narrative around obesity, both to reduce stigma and to recognise obesity as a long-term, relapsing condition, on a par with others such as diabetes. This includes working closely with our colleagues across Bradford, Leeds, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield to support their long-term plans to create for weight management services.
We want to support people living with obesity (using the principles of trauma-informed) and develop services which embed this approach. We recognise the excellent work done in this area at Doncaster Council around adopting a compassionate approach, and some of our places have already started to implement this.
Since May 2023, we have held two workshops to understand what services are like in West Yorkshire and how people are accessing them. Three workstreams are looking at: understanding the data and costs to humans and services, co-production and involving people, and stigma. Improving Population Health Programme 2022/2023 Annual Report.
Get involved in shaping our services
Involving people at every stage of what we do is crucial to getting it right, which is why we have enlisted Sarah Le Brocq, Founder of All about Obesity, and a leading obesity advocate in the UK, to set up our People Reference Group alongside Leeds Beckett University Obesity Voices. We recognise the importance of co-production, engagement and making sure people are at the heart of this work.
To get involved and join our Lived Experience Group email Lisa Buchanan, Senior Project Manager (Prevention).
Join our Community of Practice
Want to join our online Community of Practice: Better supporting people living with obesity in West Yorkshire? We have a wealth of guest speakers and provide an update on our work. This is a space for:
- sharing good practice
- learning more about other services and what they do
- understanding more about successful programs or interventions
- learning from other places about how the wider system is being brought together.
Meetings take place in June and December and are no longer than 1.5 hours. To become a member email Lisa Buchanan, Senior Project Manager (Prevention). Watch our videos below to find out more about our approach.