Living a healthier lifestyle in Gloucestershire – have your say

Gloucestershire County Council is reviewing the support offered to people who want to make a lifestyle change, and we want to make sure that our proposals meet the needs of our residents.

There is good evidence that structured ‘lifestyle coaching’ support can help individuals wanting to make a lifestyle change. So, to support people to make a positive difference to their health and wellbeing, the Council commissions a ‘healthy lifestyles service’. This service supports people to give up smoking, achieve a healthier weight, develop healthier drinking habits (alcohol), become more physically active or take other steps to improve their overall health and wellbeing.

The current contract for the Gloucestershire Healthy Lifestyles Service (HLS) expires on 31st March 2024, which gives us an opportunity to review the range of support provided in the future.

The current Healthy Lifestyles Service provides:

• One-to-one lifestyle coaching support for adults (aged 18+) to:

- Stop smoking (aged 12+)

- Achieve a healthier weight

- Increase physical activity

- Develop healthier drinking patterns (alcohol)

• ‘Weight management on referral’ available to anyone whose health and wellbeing could benefit from weight loss (currently 12 weeks Slimming World membership)
• Targeted, bespoke weight management support for specific groups at greater risk of poor health (‘health inequalities’).
• Prevention programmes, working in settings to improve health and wellbeing. For example, the Gloucestershire Workplace Health Award which guides employers on how to support the health and wellbeing of their employees
• Training and skills development, to enable health and care professionals, and those working in the voluntary and community sector, to develop skills and techniques to more effectively support people wishing to make lifestyle changes.

A different landscape

Much has changed since the current Healthy Lifestyles Service was commissioned and the future service must adapt to continue to meet the needs of local people, build on the considerable strengths of individuals and communities, and provide best value for money.

• Widening differences in health and wellbeing between communities and groups, the Covid-19 pandemic, and rising cost of living, have highlighted and deepened the differences in health and wellbeing in the county. For example, increases in childhood obesity levels, particularly affecting children from less affluent neighbourhoods.
• Active communities, community groups and organisations have always played a huge part in supporting residents to live well and we think there are real opportunities to work more closely with communities to enhance lifestyles support for residents.
• More lifestyle support options available, in addition to the wealth of support and opportunities provided within local communities, the NHS now provides a number of free ‘healthier lifestyles’ programmes, including the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme, the National Diabetes Prevention Programme, and ‘social prescribing. These programmes can be accessed via the GP.
• Emphasis on ‘best start in life’, in line with published evidence and the increasing numbers of children and young people with obesity, the Council is also investing in a new Children and Young People’s weight management service, which will be available from May 2023.

What people have told us already

We have already had conversations with a range of organisations, individuals, and groups to better understand what matters to people in relation to healthier lifestyles, and what support they need in making these choices. The resounding message coming out of these conversations was ‘how can we work better together’; how can we capitalise on the strengths, assets and experience of individuals and communities in supporting healthier lifestyles. This will form a key principle of our proposals going forwards.

Key proposals for the healthy lifestyles service offer

Building on the foundations that have been laid over recent years, and the feedback from communities and stakeholders, we aim to create a service offer, which:

• closes the gap in health and wellbeing between different communities and groups by engaging and focusing support on those facing the greatest barriers to health and wellbeing
• is flexible and responsive to individual needs by providing holistic, person-centred support, including support to access other sources of help, for example, advice re housing, work and skills, welfare, benefits, and cost of living support
• is developed, with and embedded in, communities by working more collaboratively with communities to explore how we can better support healthy lifestyles together
• is better integrated with other services and support by working more closely with the public, voluntary and community sectors
• is evidence-based and continually learning and improving in response to individual and community feedback about what works best for them

The new healthy lifestyles service for adults could offer:

• A single point of access to one-to-one coaching support to make a lifestyle change e.g., increase physical activity levels, reduce alcohol, or lose weight
• Specialised stop smoking support with nicotine replacement therapy for anyone wishing to quit
• Targeted weight management groups, that are co-designed with individuals and communities who experience the greatest barriers to having a healthy lifestyle, and complements what communities are doing
• Targeted lifestyles support for women during pregnancy and up to their child’s second birthday
• Training to enable community groups and organisations to support residents to live well
• Information and resources about healthier lifestyles
• Advice and signposting to further sources of support.

The ‘universal’* weight management offer (currently provided by Slimming World) is not consistently taken up by people with the greatest needs e.g., in 2021/2022 only 19% of people that accessed this offer were from less affluent areas of the county. Given this, and the growth in other weight management support across the county, we are proposing to decommission this offer so that we can prioritise more targeted, tailored support for those who most need it.

*This means the offer is available to anyone who could benefit from weight loss.

Aim of the Survey

We would like to understand your views around the proposed new service. The outcome of the survey will inform the recommendations taken to the council’s cabinet, who will consider the proposal to commission the new healthy lifestyles service for adults in Gloucestershire.

How to respond

The consultation is split into 3 separate surveys for three different types of audiences i.e. General Public, Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations and Public Sector Organisations. Please complete the survey that is most relevant to you, although anyone can complete the survey intended for the General Public.

The survey should take about 15 minutes.

The survey can also be made available as a hard copy via post, please contact angelika.areington@gloucestershire.gov.uk or telephone 01452 328605. If you would prefer to post your questionnaire, please send it to:

• Healthy Lifestyle Consultation, Public Health, Gloucestershire County Council, Shire Hall, Gloucester GL1 2TG

An easy read version of the survey is also available to download.

The consultation closes on Sunday 16 April 2023.

Please note this is an anonymous survey. Please do not disclose any personal information, for the purpose of seeking help, as a health and wellbeing professional will not be able to follow up with you.

If you would like support for your health and wellbeing, please see the options listed at the end of the survey.