Healthy weight and good food

There are high, and increasing, rates of overweight and obesity in Stockton-on-Tees.This is a significant concern, as obesity and poor diet are risk factors for a number of health conditions, including cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Helping people achieve or maintain a healthier weight, and ensuring people have access to good food, is complex and requires system wide, collaborative action. 

Support available

Adults experiencing overweight or obesity in Stockton-on-Tees who would like support to reduce their weight can access a range of services.   

These include:

• support in primary care
• the Lite4Life Service at Tees Active
• the specialist Weight Management service provided by South Tees NHS Hospital Trust

There are also medical treatments available where appropriate, including bariatric surgery, and weight loss medications.

There is also support available to children and families to help prevent and treat childhood obesity.  The Growing Well Growing Healthy team support children, young people, and their families to make healthy habits part of everyday life.

Tackling underlying causes

While there are services available in Stockton-on-Tees to support both adults and families experiencing obesity, there needs to be a greater focus on tackling the underlying causes of obesity and poor diet.

There are positive changes happening in Stockton-on-Tees, such as:

• the introduction of Health Impact Assessments for planning applications
• changes to national guidance on locations of hot food takeaways
• expansion of breakfast clubs, and the auto enrolment for Free School Meals

In addition, initiatives such as Good Food Local, and the Place Partnership with Sport England are also encouraging greater collaboration and partnership working.  However more still needs to be done to transform Stockton-on-Tees into a place that supports people to eat well, and to have a healthy weight.

One of the initiatives that has been successful in encouraging leadership and good practice on the food environment in other areas, is the Healthy Weight Declaration developed by Food Active. This has already been adopted by a number of local authorities in the north east, and is currently being explored locally in Stockton-on-Tees and regionally through the Integrated Care Board (ICB).

By adopting the declaration, a series of commitments are made that cover:

• strategic and system leadership
• commercial determinants
• health promoting environments
• culture shift
• monitoring and evaluation

This will be a key next step in our approach to healthy weight and good food in Stockton-on-Tees.