October 20, 2015 1:00pm by David Farrar

The childhood obesity plan

Jonathan Coleman announced:

The 22 initiatives in the plan are a mix of new or an expansion of existing services which are grouped into three key themes:

Targeted interventions for those who are obese

Increased support for those at risk of becoming obese

Broad strategies to make healthier choices easier

“At the core of the plan is a new childhood obesity health target. This target will be part of the health targets programme from 1 July 2016,” says Dr Coleman.

“By December 2017, 95 per cent of children identified as obese in the B4 School Check will be referred to an appropriate health professional for clinical assessment and family based nutrition, activity and lifestyle interventions.

“The B4 School Check is a free health and development check for four year olds. The checks aim to identify and address any health, behavioural, social or development concerns which could affect a child’s ability to get the most benefit from school.

“Over 58,600 children have benefited from this free service in the last year. Of that, over 1,400 were referred on for obesity related support. With this target we expect that will treble to over 4,000 a year by December 2017.