Category: Obesity

July Community Health Bulletin

In this edition:

  • Ockenden review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust: final report
  • Government pushes forward with conversion practices ban to protect LGBT+ people from abuse
  • A shared heart: the story of Fleetwood’s community health hub
  • The danger of confusing AI mental health support with therapy
  • New funding from Forces in Mind Trust to improve mental health care for former Service personnel
  • Pioneering projects to transform obesity care, backed by £85 million from government and industry
  • Plus much more

Ready for you below.

30 June 2026

Making Every Contact Count

The most recent Make Every Contact count public heath bulletin looking at latest evidence around smoking cessation, alcohol, healthy weight, healthy eating and physical exercise is now available. The bulletin is produced by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT Library staff. If you cannot access any of the articles included in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.

Smoking Cessation

Smoking Cessation Jan 2026Download

Alcohol

Alcohol Jan 2026Download

Healthy Weight

Healthy Weight Jan 2026Download

Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating Jan 2026Download

Physical Activity


Physical Activity Jan 2026Download

Making Every Contact Count

The most recent Make Every Contact count public heath bulletin looking at latest evidence around smoking cessation, alcohol, healthy weight, healthy eating and physical exercise is now available. The bulletin is produced by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT Library staff. If you cannot access any of the articles included in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.

Smoking Cessation

Smoking Cessation Sep 2025Download

Alcohol

Alcohol Sep 2025Download

Healthy Weight

Healthy Weight Sep 2025Download

Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating Sep 2025Download

Physical Activity

Physical Activity Sep 2025Download

Making Every Contact Count May 2025


The most recent Make Every Contact count public heath bulletin looking at latest evidence around smoking cessation, alcohol, healthy weight, healthy eating and physical exercise is now available. The bulletin is produced by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT Library staff. If you cannot access any of the articles included in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.

Smoking Cessation

Smoking Cessation May 2025Download

Alcohol

Alcohol May 2025Download

Healthy Weight & Healthy Eating

Healthy Weight Healthy Eating May 2025Download

Physical Activity

Alcohol May 2025Download

Making Every Contact Count January 2025

The most recent Make Every Contact count public heath bulletin looking at latest evidence around smoking cessation, alcohol, healthy weight, healthy eating and physical exercise is now available. The bulletin is produced by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT Library staff. If you cannot access any of the articles included in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.

Smoking Cessation

Smoking Cessation Jan 2025Download

Alcohol

Alcohol Jan 2025.docxDownload

Healthy Weight

Healthy Weight Jan 2025Download

Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating Jan 2025Download

Physical Activity

Physical Activity Jan 2025Download

Making Every Contact Count September 2024

The most recent Make Every Contact count public heath bulletin looking at latest evidence around smoking cessation, alcohol, healthy weight, healthy eating and physical exercise is now available. The bulletin is produced by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT Library staff. If you cannot access any of the articles included in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.

Smoking Cessation

MECC Bulletin – Sep 2024 smoking cessationDownload

Alcohol

MECC Bulletin – Sep 2024 alcoholDownload

Healthy Weight

MECC Bulletin – Sep 2024 healthy weightDownload

Healthy Eating

MECC Bulletin – Sep 2024 healthy eatingDownload

Physical Activity

MECC Bulletin – Sep 2024 physical activityDownload

Public Health

Current Awareness

How can local authorities reduce obesity? Insights from NIHR research.
NIHR Evidence; 2022.
(This themed review draws on the breadth of NIHR research relevant to obesity, conversations with staff at local councils and at national organisations, and feedback from a group of practitioners, researchers and members of the public. Together they identify evidence-based actions that local authorities, working with their local partners, can take to reduce obesity in their communities.)

Support at the end of life: The role of hospice services across the UK.
Nuffield Trust; 2022.
(This new analysis draws on a nationwide survey of hospices conducted by Hospice UK to address a large gap in our understanding of the services that the hospice sector provides across the UK, including how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted those services.)

Fit for the Future: The Health Value of Wellbeing and Leisure Services.
District Councils’ Network; 2022.
(This new report from DCN, produced with health consultants HEC at University of East Anglia and Economics By Design, delivers strong evidence of the potential of these services to tackle health inequalities and level up our communities.)

Estimating suicide among higher education students, England and Wales: Experimental Statistics: 2017 to 2020.
Office of National Statistics (ONS); 2022.
(The suicide rate for higher education students in the academic year ending 2020 in England and Wales was 3.0 deaths per 100,000 students (64 suicide deaths); this is the lowest rate observed over the last four years, although the small numbers per year make it difficult to identify statistically significant differences. Higher education students in England and Wales had a significantly lower suicide rate compared with the general population of similar ages.)

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

WHO European regional obesity report 2022

(Overweight and obesity affect almost 60 per cent of adults and nearly one in three children in the WHO European Region. Recent estimates suggest that overweight and obesity is the fourth most common risk factor for noncommunicable diseases in the Region, after high blood pressure, dietary risks and tobacco. This report examines the growing challenge and impact of obesity in the Region and focuses on managing obesity throughout the life course and tackling obesogenic environments. It also considers more recent challenges, including problematic digital marketing to children and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on obesity prevalence.)

Doctor’s orders: Why adherence is critical to improving health outcomes across the life course

(Nearly half of all adults and approximately 8% of children worldwide have a chronic condition. Yet, studies have shown that adherence to medication is poor. This is expensive for governments, requiring three extra medical visits per year. This article from the ILC suggests some key recommendations to support adherence.)

Thousands of people with diabetes set to benefit from real time information after updated NICE recommendations

(More than 250,000 people living with type 1 diabetes are set to be offered new technology to help them manage their condition and at the same time reduce the need for finger prick testing by up to 50%, following new advice from NICE.)

Link workers for population health: it’s time to get with the (social prescribing) programme

(Embedding a population health approach into health care at the local, regional and national level in England will require slow, incremental cultural shifts over the space of years, as suggested in their report; A vision for population health.)

Public Health

Current awareness updates

The problem with ‘My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene’.[Abstract]
Gould D. BMJ Quality & Safety 2022;31(4):322-326.
[“We propose four solutions to promote hand hygiene. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought rapid change to health services delivery, including all aspects of infection prevention, and could be the catalyst to update hand hygiene programmes incorporating these solutions.”]

‘My Five Moments’: understanding a user-centred approach to hand hygiene improvement within a broader implementation strategy. [Editorial][Abstract]
Allegranzi B. BMJ Quality & Safety 2022;31(4):259-262.
[Conclusions: The Five Moments approach is being constantly tailored to meet the challenges of care locations outside the traditional hospital setting, as well as across all countries and resource levels. The main thrust of the approach remains targeted at patient and health worker safety at the point of care where the risk of acquiring infection can be at its highest. Further work to help meet the Five Moments objectives through its adaptation and adoption worldwide is to be welcomed.]

Obesity statistics.
House of Commons Library; 2022.
[28% of adults in England are obese and a further 36% are overweight. This briefing provides statistics on the obesity among adults and children in the UK, along with data on bariatric surgery and international comparisons.]

Pressure redistributing static chairs for preventing pressure ulcers.[Abstract]
Stephens M. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2022;2:CD013644.[OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of pressure redistributing static chairs on the prevention of pressure ulcers in health, rehabilitation and social care settings, and places of residence in which people may spend their day.]

Culturally adapting internet- and mobile-based health promotion interventions might not be worth the effort: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Balci S. npj Digital Medicine 2022;5:34.
[Adapting health promotion IMI to the cultural context of different cultural populations seems not yet to be recommendable given the substantial adaption efforts necessary and the mostly non-significant findings. However, these findings need to be seen as preliminary given the limited number of included trials with varying methodological rigor and the partly substantial between-trial heterogeneity pointing in the direction of potentially useful culturally adapted IMI.]

Association of Music Interventions With Health-Related Quality of Life: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
JAMA Network Open; 2022.
[This systematic review and meta-analysis of 26 studies comprising 779 individuals found that music interventions were associated with statistically and clinically significant changes in mental HRQOL, both preintervention to postintervention as well as when music interventions were added to treatment as usual vs treatment as usual control groups.]

Public Health

Current awareness updates

Physical activity as an intervention in severe mental illness.
Kandola AA. BJPsych Advances 2022;28(2):112-121.
[After reading this article you will be able to: understand why physical activity is clinically important for people with severe mental illness; recognise the possible barriers to and facilitators of engagement in physical activity by people with severe mental illness; consider the next steps for commissioners, researchers and practitioners in this area.]

85% of adolescent girls don’t do enough physical activity: new WHO study calls for action.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2022.
[Adolescent girls are not getting enough physical activity and this problem is growing worldwide and can have serious effects on health and well-being. A new study into the ‘Barriers and Facilitators of Physical Activity Participation in Adolescent Girls’ brings good news – there are some clear steps to change this picture.]

Social prescribing and musculoskeletal conditions: a guide for link workers and social prescribing services.
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA); 2022.
[Social prescribing has the potential to support people with MSK conditions and to reduce the chances of future MSK problems. This guide is aimed at social prescribers without a specific MSK service or background in MSK conditions to help them use social prescribing to make a difference to people’s lives and become a champion for the importance of good MSK health.]

Online food and drink marketing to young people.
Nesta; 2022.
[Young people are exposed to a range of marketing for unhealthy food and drink online, from adverts for fast food on social media to price offers and limited edition deals encouraging them to buy food via email and apps. This report shares findings from a project that sought to better understand the impact of this type of marketing on young people.]

Better Health Start for Life weaning campaign survey: March 2022.
Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID); 2022.
[The survey was designed to provide attitudinal insights to support the launch of the Better Health Start for Life weaning campaign.]

Health first: how to talk about childhood obesity.
Impact on Urban Health; 2022.
[This toolkit aims to help organisations and individuals talk about children’s health, unequal access to nutritious food, and childhood obesity. The toolkit provides six key communications principles – from using metaphors that stick in people’s minds, to what key messages to leave in (and out) of communications to help them resonate.]