People in Great Yarmouth and Waveney who are overweight or obese will benefit from a new weight management service next year.

The community-based service, launching in January 2013, will be run by Mytime Health for HealthEast NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group.

The specialist weight management service is open to people with a body mass index (BMI) of over 40 or for people with a BMI of over 35 who also have an obesity-related illness.

Obesity in Great Yarmouth and Waveney is 2% higher than the regional average and it is estimated that this will increase by 10,000 people in the next five years, reaching over 100,000 people by 2031.

The service aims to target 1200 people per year with an additional 400 people accessing ‘food literacy’ courses, healthy food training sessions run by Mytime Health’s professionals.

Jamie Wyllie, local GP and Director of Clinical Transformation at HealthEast, said: “Obesity is an increasing problem in Great Yarmouth and Waveney, and until now people needing help have had to be referred through to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, which is a long way to travel for our population.

“We really hope that this service will deliver better care for people struggling with obesity in Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Waveney, working with people in their own communities.

“We expect the service to help people avoid the need for weight loss surgery where possible and support those who really do require surgery to lose weight both before and after the operation.”

Mytime Health is a division of Mytime Active, a leading social enterprise which believes everyone has the right to a healthy and fulfilling life. Mytime Health delivers patient centred services, through highly trained staff, which reflect the communities they serve.

The social enterprise is committed to addressing health inequalities and improving health-related behaviour through cost effective health interventions, thereby reducing demand on the NHS.

Annie Holden, Health Division Manager for Mytime Active, said: “Mytime Health is delighted to be sharing our expertise gained through running weight management programmes throughout the country with the Great Yarmouth and Waveney community.

“We hope this latest initiative will join already successful programmes we run across the Midlands, East of England, London and the South. Our goal is to improve the quality of people’s lives and their health and wellbeing, by delivering services that are widely regarded to be top quality, reliable, accessible and patient focused.

“We are pleased to work in partnership with HealthEast and look forward to working with other community groups to deliver accessible community health care.”

The new service also draws on the success of a similar scheme run at Fakenham Medical Practice in North Norfolk. Having received both regional and national acclaim it is held up as an example of best practice.

Dr Carly Hughes, who heads up the Fakenham based service, said: “People being referred for weight loss surgery spend six months working with our specialist service first, which means we have been able to reduce the number of people having surgery unnecessarily.

“Sometimes people do still need the surgery – but part of a weight management service like ours, and like the new one to be launched by HealthEast, is to get the right treatment to the right people.”

 

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