UK hospital food still deemed unhealthy

UK hospital food still deemed unhealthy

Admissions to NHS hospitals where obesity was recorded as either a primary or secondary diagnosis increased by 15 per cent last year. So what can be done to reverse this widening trend?

An annual collection of new and previously published figures on obesity, titled Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet, England, 2019, claims that there were 94,000 more admissions to NHS hospitals as a result of obesity last year, and increase of 15 per cent.

According to the statistics, which also examined other obesity-related figures, such as prescription items, prevalence among adults and children as well as physical activity and diet, approximately two thirds of the admissions where obesity was recorded as either a primary or secondary diagnosis in 2017/18 were for women, and women accounted for 79 per cent of the 6,627 Finished Consultant Episodes for bariatric surgery in 2017/18.

Looking at prevalence, the report establishes that adult obesity prevalence stood at 29 per cent in 2017, an increase from 26 per cent in 2016. Prevalence of child obesity in both Reception and Year 6 was over twice as high in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived areas; 13 per cent compared tosix per cent in Reception year, and 27 per cent compared to 12 per cent in Year 6.

Scottish restrictions

The figures are doing little to reverse the trend of obesity within hospitals becoming a more difficult issue to address. While it is widely agreed that public health budgets need to be strengthened, especially at local authority level, for obesity to be prevented rather than treated, it is worrying that findings within hospitals are equally concerning.

At the end of May, Scotland issued a restriction on the sale of high-energy drinks to under-16s from shops on NHS sites. The restriction will apply to drinks with an added caffeine content of more than 150mg/litre and is the latest update to the Healthcare Retail Standard, a set of criteria which all retailers operating in NHS sites in Scotland must adhere to. It aims to increase the amount of healthier food and drinks in shops in NHS buildings, with tighter rules around what can be promoted.

Scottish Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said that the Healthcare Retail Standard ‘supports healthier eating across the NHS estate’ and recognised that it was right that Scottish hospitals ‘show a lead in providing food and drink which is health promoting’.

The University of Aberdeen suggested that caps could limit the calorie, fat, sugar and salt content of individual items on NHS premises

Junk food

Whilst the Healthcare Retail Standard ensures that at least 50 per cent of food and 70 per cent of drinks on sale are healthier options, health psychologists at the University of Aberdeen have revealed that people overwhelmingly bought unhealthy snacks and drinks on hospital premises. Also published in May, the audit findings have led researchers, both within Scotland and across the UK, to call for radical restrictions on junk food on NHS premises.

According to a report by the audit’s authors, three-quarters of the bestselling snacks in hospital catering areas were rated as unhealthy, along with half of the most popular cold drinks. In fact, only five of the 20 top selling snacks were found to be healthy.

The University of Aberdeen researchers refrained from proposing an outright ban on junk food, but did suggest that caps could limit the calorie, fat, sugar and salt content of individual items, and that hospitals should use behavioural ‘nudges’ to encourage people to buy healthier foods. This is beyond what the Healthcare Retail Standard is currently encouraging.

Local level change

At the start of the year, 13 local authorities were promised funding and support to develop innovative plans to reduce childhood obesity that can be shared across the country. With each of the local authorities receiving £10,000 in funding as well as targeted support to develop practical plans, the Department of Health and Social Care said at the time that five successful authorities will be selected to take their plans forward over three years.

Part of the government’s Trailblazer programme, in partnership with the Local Government Association, the three-year programme will focus on inequalities and work closely with local authorities to: test the limits of existing powers through innovative and determined action to tackle childhood obesity; share learning and best practice to encourage wider local action; develop solutions to local obstacles; and consider further actions that government can take to support local action and achieve large-scale changes.

FURTHER INFORMATION

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