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| Healthy
Eating and Nutrition |
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| BHPS home > Healthy Eating > PHD East Berks | ||||||
Public Health Dietitian- East Berkshire INTRODUCTION This report is a very brief summary of the work of the Public Health Dietitian. It gives an overview of 8 key programmes which have been delivered in East Berkshire between April 2002 and April 2003. The Public Health Dietitian is funded by Dietetic’s money for three days a week to undertake healthy eating, health promotion work in East Berkshire. A post of this limited capacity cannot cover all areas of Health Promotion work associated with healthy eating, so priorities have been set. It is well accepted that eating patterns adopted at an early age tend to persist into adult life and Berkshire already has a strong network of consultants working in schools to improve the health of the pupils and staff. The role of the Public Health Dietitian has evolved to work closely with the Healthy Schools Programme ensuring that health promoting work in schools is co-ordinated and complimentary. By targeting children and young people, there will also be a degree of influence on the adult population via the teachers and the children’s parents. Programmes
For further information about any of the programmes please contact: Pip Collings, Public Health Dietitian, East Berkshire George Ward, St Mark’s Hospital, Maidenhead SL6 6DU Tel. 01753 63 8673 Email: Pip.Collings@berkshire.nhs.uk
Introduction In January 2003, the Schools Nutrition Network was established. This network was set up to provide a forum for health professionals and local authority workers to discuss their healthy eating work and plan future programmes. The main aims are to:
Membership
The network was launched with a seminar where each member group presented their work. There is a great deal of work going on in East Berkshire, but much of it is fragmented. This seminar was a good opportunity for the members to find out about other programmes, which could potentially link with their work. In the afternoon, workshops were held to map current work in schools and start to plan future work based on local Healthy Eating action plans.
The Public Health Dietitian sits on the menu planning groups with Local Authorities and catering contractors to develop the school lunch menus. Together we ensure that the menus meet government legislation in addition to the local contract specification which stipulates that the menus should conform to the Caroline Walker Trust recommendations for school meals. We are trying to further improve the nutritional quality of the menus. A careful balance needs to be struck between getting healthy foods on the menu and giving children foods they like. The menu planning group are taking a pragmatic approach, making small changes to the menus every term to increase the number of ‘traditional’ dishes as opposed to the breaded, extruded meat/fish products currently prevalent. Menu improvement criteria have been drawn up to help with this process. MENU PLANNING CRITERIA 1. Must meet national standards All menus in Local Authority contracts meet national standards 2. Must meet local specification – Caroline Walker Guidelines All menus in Local Authoruty contracts meet Caroline Walker Guidelines 3. Should meet menu improvement criteria
This is a national programme aimed at improving the oral and nutritional health of 0-5 year old children. Designed by the Health Education Authority, the programme is run locally by the ‘Smiling for Life Alliance’
Launched in East Berkshire in May 2000, the scheme is targeted at all Early Years Settings and Toddler Groups. The objectives of the programme are:
The oral health promotion adviser who manages the Windsor and Maidenhead area (Karen Gonzalez) has a particular interest in child minders and has produced a pack to promote the campaign to this group. Any group with a written healthy snacks policy will be eligible for the Smiling for Life Nutrition Award. This provides a credit towards the Healthy Schools Award. For pre-schools who do not provide snacks, a separate Drinks Award has been created. Healthy snacks and drinks are defined as:
This year we have focused on increasing man power for this programme and producing new, updated resources. We are now working closely with Local Authorities, and have produced new packs and posters. So far we have recruited 57 nurseries and pre-schools and presented 22 Gold Awards and 2 Drinks Awards.
The 5th June 2001, saw the launch of the Keep on Smiling Programme, an extension of the Smiling for Life Programme set in Primary Schools.
Central to this programme is the ‘Snack Pack’ which provides information to help schools develop and implement healthy snacks policies. The pack contains:
Copies of the pack have been distributed to the Healthy School Consultants, Dietitians, Oral Health Promotion Advisers and School Nurses. So far we have had 73 orders for the Snack Pack.
The Keep on Smiling Nutrition Award is also linked to the Healthy Schools Award.
This campaign is designed to educate children about:
To help redress inequalities, four schools were identified for intensive health promotion work, using dental screening records. Extra activities were organised for these schools including preparing healthy packed lunches and a play devised and performed by Wexham Secondary School. The play was based on the story of Hansel and Gretel and emphasised the importance of eating a balanced diet.
Funding was obtained from the Health Promotion Fund to create a food garden at St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Bracknell. The intention of the project was to involve children in growing fruit and vegetables to foster a positive attitude towards these foods and thereby increase intakes. In addition, practical sessions in the garden will increase the children’s physical activity. Community involvement and environmental awareness are also important elements of the project. The findings from this pilot have helped the the SEEDS Trust (an environmental charity) to design a similar project in Slough. Funding has been obtained to establish food gardens in five Slough primary schools.
The project was repeated this year with the help of two parents who ran a Gardening Club. As a result of this project, the school has been adopted by Academy of Culinary Arts. This scheme involves local chefs educating the children about food and taste. Recipe ideas were given for the produce from the food garden. The Public health Dietitian and local chef patron designed and delivered two cook projects as part of the Thames Valley University Summer Programme. The Advanced course was held at the Slough Estates offices. The students learned knife skills, butchery, fish filleting and about healthy eating. They prepared a number of dishes each day, culminating in a presentation meal for their families and special guests.
Four of the students are interested in following a career in catering and work experience has been organised for them in top London restaurants. Chef, Steve Scuffell is the former chair of the Craft Guild of Chefs. The catering industry is currently suffering a recruitment crisis, and the Craft Guild are interested in working with young people to engender some enthusiasm for cooking. Thames Valley University run training courses for budding chefs.
The Cook Projects were developed in response to extensive consultation by Thames Valley University into the requirements of the local teenage community in Slough. Practical cooking skills were found to be severely lacking, and yet there was an interest amongst members of this population in learning how to cook. There are currently very few cook courses in East Berkshire. The Basic course was held at Langleywood School in Langley. Evaluation
shows that both courses helped to increase the students
This pilot project was run in Lynch Hill Primary School in Slough. There are two strands to the intervention 1. Access Thames Water assessed the quality of drinking water in the school and
made recommendations on the positioning of the water dispensers. 2. Resource development A focus group of 6 ‘water champions’ was formed to guide the resource development. Educational resources were developed with the children to raise awareness of importance of adequate hydration. These were used to educate staff, pupils and parents about the three key messages of the campaign.
Printed resources Thames Water designed and printed leaflets, posters and a Teacher’s Handbook, under the guidance of the children. Video The children designed and produced a video to raise awareness of the campaign to fellow pupils, staff and parents. Road Show An exhibition stand with the key messages and an outline of the project was designed by Thames Water graphics department to promote the campaign at a school open day. Health promoters were available on this day to talk to the parents about the project. |
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Food
Awareness Week is a national campaign designed by the British Dietetic
Association. All Berkshire primary schools were targeted with the campaign
which took place in June 2002. A resource pack was developed with
local teachers to provide good, evidenced based, education material to
help teachers deliver the key health messages of the campaign.
Food
Awareness Week was planned and delivered by the Public Health Dietitian
in partnership with:
Students
from the Advanced Cook prepare healthy dishes under the guidance
of local Chef – Steve Scuffell. The course took place in the
Slough Estates kitchens. Slough Estates generously supplied all
the food for the project. 
Resources