Outcome 2

We will prevent 55,000 children from becoming overweight by 2040.

Why it’s important

What we’ve been doing

What are we going to do

How we’ll measure progress

Why it’s important

On average, in Dorset three out of ten 11-year-old children are overweight. In our most deprived areas this number will be even higher.

If nothing is done, nationally about 40% of 11-year-olds will be overweight by 2040. Obesity in children can have serious and long-term consequences on their physical health, mental health, and overall quality of life.

Why it is important to prevent obesity in children:

  • Physical health: being overweight means you are more likely to develop diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer in adulthood.

    Being overweight or obese can have serious consequences on a child’s health and wellbeing.

  • Mental health: children who are overweight are more likely to have depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems. They may also face bullying and unfair treatment, which can affect their mental health.

  • Social and emotional wellbeing: children may struggle with self-esteem and body image issues, which can affect their social and emotional wellbeing. They may also have difficulty taking part in physical activities and social events, which can lead to isolation and loneliness.

  • Academic performance: obesity has been linked to poor academic performance. A range of things such as stigma, physical activity and school absence can affect a child’s ability to concentrate and learn.

  • Long-term consequences: children who are overweight or obese are more likely to become obese adults, which can lead to more health problems and a shorter lifespan. Preventing obesity in children is crucial for their overall health and wellbeing. It can help them lead healthier and happier lives, both now and in the future.

In Dorset we are determined to do everything possible to prevent children from experiencing the serious and lifelong consequences of obesity. This will need us to make a long-term commitment with all our partners including NHS, local authorities, and the voluntary and community sector, as well as businesses.

We will need to improve the health and wellbeing of parents to be and families to support children in the first 1,000 days of their life and to work across both health services and in early years, pre-schools and schools.

What we’ve been doing

We work closely with our local councils to make sure our children and young people get the best start in life. One important programme is called Better Births, which helps pregnant people have personalised care plans and improves the care they get after giving birth. We want to make sure all expecting and new parents have access to the same level of care and support.

To support healthy pregnancies, we provide easy to understand information on our Maternity Matters website in a range of languages. We also offer advice and support on feeding and caring for newborn babies. We believe in the importance of breastfeeding, so we actively take part in the Dorset Infant Feeding Network. We have developed initiatives in our hospitals to create a welcoming environment for breastfeeding parents.

Dorset HealthCare plays an important role in delivering the Children and Young People’s Public Health Service. They have a person called a clinical lead for nutrition who focuses on healthy eating for children and young people aged 0-19.

Right now, they are looking at a programme called Healthy Start. It helps families who don’t have a lot of money to buy healthy foods like milk and vegetables and get free vitamins if they are pregnant or have a child under the age of four. These are important for young children and parents who are breastfeeding. By giving this support, we can help families have a healthier diet.

Public Health Dorset, Active Dorset and the Youth Sport Trust are teaming up to extend an exciting programme called Healthy Movers.

This programme helps children understand why it is important to be physically fit, and support their development and wellbeing so they get a better start in life. They also have a project called the Whole School Approach. It’s about making physical activity part of everyday life at school. They encourage things like the Daily Mile, where children run or walk for a short distance each day. They also teach children ways to feel less anxious and manage their emotions.

What we are going to do

In the previous outcome you would have read about our plans to help all our children and young people with their mental and emotional health. We recognise there is a link between mental health and weight. Overall, we want to make sure everyone’s mental health is taken care of, and our children and young people can thrive and feel their best.

Taking care of our teeth is important for overall health, and it is best to start developing good dental habits when we are young. That’s why we encourage children to have regular dental checkups from an early age. By seeing a dentist regularly, we can prevent dental problems and keep our mouths in good shape. Taking care of teeth is not only important for our health, but it also helps us to be ready for school and stay healthy as we grow.

Nutrition is also really important when it comes to taking care of our teeth and is a key part of children’s overall health.

Our programme follows guidelines called Core20Plus5 for children and young people. This helps us make sure that everyone gets the healthcare they need. This focuses on oral health too, which means we’re working to reduce the number of tooth extractions which need to be done in hospitals for children under ten. We want to help those who are in the 20% most deprived areas, making sure everyone has a chance to have a healthy smile.

Healthwatch Dorset has been finding out people’s experiences of NHS dentistry services. Over the next two years, we will be working on what matters most to people and finding new ways of doing things, so you can access to the dental care that you need.

We know the health and wellbeing of people before they become parents is really important for the health of their future children. But not many people think about this before they become pregnant.

That’s why we want to introduce something called preconception care. This is about helping people adopt healthy behaviours and manage a range of things that might get in the way of a healthy pregnancy, such as health problems, issues with relationships, finances or where they are living, before they become parents. We want to make sure local services are aligned to support people in this important phase.

To do this we are exploring how we can bring all the different services and support together. We are going to gather information and talk to you through our ‘Community Conversations’ approach. Doing this we can direct people to the services available to them within their communities.

Taking care of yourself when you’re pregnant is important for you and your baby’s health. In Dorset, we work together as a Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS). We have plans and programmes to help pregnant people stay healthy and make sure all women can access maternity services and receive the same level of care, no matter who they are. National reports and investigations such as the Ockenden Review and Better Births help us to make maternity care safer, so parents and their families have a good experience during pregnancy and birth and in the weeks and months after a baby is born.

We want to make sure families have access to the right services to support their health. To do this, we look at the results from the National Child Measurement Programme. This programme helps us understand how children are growing and if they are a healthy weight. By looking at this information, we can see if there are any problems with children being overweight. This is important as being overweight can lead to health issues. We use this data to help us make decisions and create programmes to help families be healthier. The National Child Measurement Programme is part of the government’s plan to tackle childhood obesity and it helps us see if what we are doing to help reduce it is working.

Our Children and Young People’s Public Health Service is working hard to help children and families develop healthy habits right from the start. We know breastfeeding is a great way to give babies a healthy start in life. We also want children to be active and enjoy physical activity. That’s why we’re working closely with Active Dorset and schools to promote healthy lifestyles.

Active Dorset coordinates a national Sport England survey called Active Lives in schools to learn about how active children are, how much they know about staying physically fit and how their mental wellbeing is. At the moment not many schools take part in the survey, and we want to change that. By getting more schools to take part, we can gather important information about how active our children are and how we can help them to stay healthy. This data will help us understand the attitudes and behaviours of young people and how we can use this to reduce childhood obesity and promote better health and wellbeing.

In addition to supporting the national Healthy Start Scheme, we are keen to explore the possibility of partnering with our two councils to ensure all primary school children in Dorset receive free school meals up to and including those in year 6.

Public Health Dorset, Active Dorset and the Youth Sport Trust have teamed up to make the Healthy Movers programme available to more children. We want to extend this programme to 2-5 year olds in places like early years settings, childminders, libraries, and family hubs. Our goal is to have this running within the next two years.

We also want to support older children, starting from year 7 to live a healthier lifestyle. Public Health Dorset is working with young people to create an app which will give helpful information and tools to support our children and young people to make healthy choices. It’s an exciting project that will be a follow-up to the National Child Measurement Programme.

We also have social prescribing for children and young people. Social prescribing is a way to help people by connecting them with activities, groups, and services in our communities. These things can help with practical needs like finding support. Right now, we have different services available across the county. We want to make sure all children and young people can access these services if they need them. To do that we are going to do something called a gap analysis.

This means we’ll look closely at the services we have and see if there are differences or gaps between different areas of the county. By doing this analysis, we can find out if there are unfair differences in how these services are available.

Active Dorset is working with the Department of Education to support schools to stay open for longer, outside of the school day, so communities can take part in a range of activities to help them stay active. The aim is to help areas that need the space the most and support people with additional needs to have a more active lifestyle.

How we are going to measure progress

We have a number of measures that we will monitor which will tell us if we are helping you to access the services you need in the right place.

You will see:

  • more children accessing dental services

  • fewer children experiencing poor dental health

  • fewer children in reception year who are overweight or obese

  • fewer children in year 6 who are overweight or obese

  • more babies being breastfed beyond their first 6-8 weeks

We will measure these outcomes through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).