Case studies

Hull’s new approach to child obesity rests on the premise that unhealthy weight is not just a public health problem but cuts across all the council’s areas of responsibility.

When Lincolnshire County Council began to map the complex factors that lead to childhood obesity; from food availability and marketing, transport choices and social norms to activity levels and deprivation, the intricate diagram of causal loops was a powerful visual illustration that a whole systems approach was necessary.

A pilot in one of the most deprived ward’s in Portsmouth will focus on the environmental drivers of obesity and bring together work across the council, from housing, transport and education to planning and public health.

A new health and wellbeing service for children and families will embed the insights learnt from a three-year pilot aimed at tackling childhood obesity in one of the most deprived wards.

Planning guidance which restricts the number of hot food takeaways in areas with high childhood obesity is part of South Tyneside Council’s whole systems approach to the problem of excess weight.

Increasing physical activity among children and young people is a central goal of Southwark Council’s holistic approach to tackling child obesity. From planning development, designing transport to commissioning leisure services with specific health outputs, the promotion of more active lifestyles is a strategic aim.

Wigan commissions leisure services to provide an integrated health and wellbeing offering which makes full use of the community assets that families trust most - schools and Start Well Family Centres - as well as providing weight management services for children and young people.

Vulnerable groups such as travellers and asylum seekers are known to have lower rates of vaccination than the general population. In Brighton and Hove the local immunisation team has been working closely with health visitors, commissioned by the city council, to increase uptake.

The fragmentation of the vaccination system has been highlighted as one of the key contributors to the low uptake of immunisations. But in Derbyshire a strong working relationship has been established between the council’s health protection team and the regional NHS England immunisation service.

Doncaster Council has worked with local NHS organisations and care providers to try to ensure high rates of flu vaccination uptake. There has been a particular focus on care staff in recent years after they were incorporated into the winter flu vaccination campaign. Work has also been completed with other groups including council staff and pregnant women.