Engagement - News and Updates

In Somerset, people are increasingly living over 80. However, research has shown that more people are living with some form of disability in their older age. We want Somerset to be a great place to live, work, and retire.

Dr. Tom MacConnell, Associate Clinical Director, is interested in learning more about how Somerset's residents achieve and maintain a 'healthy weight', as one of the key factors for preventing disease and disability later in life. We currently have 160,000 people in Somerset who have a BMI over 25, 76,000 over 30, and around 30,000 people living with Type 2 Diabetes.

We wanted to to explore how we can make it easier for people to get to a healthy weight if they desire.

NHS Somerset ran a survey to understand how we can make it easier for people to achieve a healthy weight and then stay in that place.

Our aim is to engage in a non-judgmental, balanced, and open way, as we know this can be a sensitive and personal topic. The NHS wants to empower people through knowledge, understanding, and motivation - so we can find out what it means for them, as an individual, to take responsibility of their wellbeing.

 

What we asked -

• What do you understand by 'healthy weight'?
• Why do you think the NHS and other health services are interested in patients' weight?
• Do you think the NHS should support people to reach a healthy weight?
• Are you interested in maintaining a healthy weight?
• What are the top three reasons for you to maintain a health weight?
• What challenges do you or others face, that make it harder to achieve a healthy weight?
• Given these challenges, what would motivate you, or others you know, to try to achieve and maintain a healthy weight?
• If weight is not an important factors for you in considering yourself healthy, please explain what you think does make someone healthy...
• Are you aware of any health campaigns promoting healthy weight?
• Have any of these campaigns influenced your feelings or behaviours regarding healthy weight?
• Have you had any experience of effective NHS or professional support to achieve and maintain a healthy weight?
• Where would you currently look for support to achieve a healthy weight in Somerset?
• Are you aware of any services in your local area to support you in achieving/maintaining a healthy weight?
• What are the main things we can do in Somerset that would support people to achieve a healthy weight?
• Do you have anything else you would like to tell us about the topic of healthy weight?

 

What we did -

Thank you for your feedback. We received 85 responses to this survey, which will be read and analysed to pull out key themes and trends. Your responses will support us in considering how the community and NHS Somerset can support long-term health and wellbeing for all it's residents. This means we can build partnerships with community groups, invest in meaningful support, and co-design effective strategies for change.

 

Background -

The focus of our engagement is on the long-term wellbeing of all of our Somerset residents, which includes working towards the prevention of illnesses, conditions and disabilities. We know that this is a collaborative process. We want to create a community of ‘flourishing wellbeing building an environment, together, where individuals are empowered to start with the things that are important to them to look after their own wellbeing. A healthy weight is one of the keystones in protecting against disability in later life.. There are over 160,000 people in Somerset who have a BMI over 25, 76,000 over 30 and approximately 30,000 people with type 2 diabetes. Weight is an important risk factor in the development of diabetes. We understand that whilst weight is a public health issue, it is also a personal and sensitive issue for most people. Being heavier than you may like to be, can pose many challenges for individuals. We would like to not only motivate people to initially, lose a bit of weight, but also to explore how we can make it easier for people to get to the health and weight that they'd like to be and then stay in that place. This requires a holistic approach where we look at how people, with support, can modify other parts of their lives to make their weight less of an issue in terms of their long-term wellbeing.

 

Our Aim

We understand that whilst weight is a public health issue, it is also a personal and sensitive issue for most people. Being heavier than you may like to be, can pose many challenges for individuals. We would like to not only motivate people to initially, lose a bit of weight, but also to explore how we can make it easier for people to get to the health and weight that they'd like to be and then stay in that place. This requires a holistic approach where we look at how people, with support, can modify other parts of their lives to make their weight less of an issue in terms of their long-term wellbeing.

 

Community support

We want to engage with Somerset residents as individuals, with often full, busy and stressful lives but also we recognise that we also view ourselves as part of a wider community. This will enable us to fully consider how the community can support long-term health and wellbeing for all its members. This approach will allow us to co-design strategies, build partnerships with community groups, the voluntary sector and the ongoing support coming from non-clinicians.