BAME Weight Management report

The ideas to take forward were to to refurbish the lounge to make better use of the space and make it more homely for the residents. Continue with plans to update the dining room and the furniture. Investigate dementia training for staff. Display a weekly planner of activities/outings for residents and relatives. Display menu choices for the week on the notice board.

Engagement carried out by Healthwatch Middlesbrough during autumn of 2013 indicated that there was a lack of awareness and understanding of what services are available to support people with weight management, particularly within the BAME community. Healthwatch Middlesbrough used a mixed method approach of gathering information to ensure a good overview of the public perception of the BAME Weight Management services.

The summary of findings informed intelligence gathered indicates that current methods of promoting services require review. GP’s need to be made aware of services in order to signpost patients. Public Health and South Tees CCG have appointed NWA Social and Market Research Ltd to carry out insight research that includes the BAME population. The insight work will build on the information we received from last year's consultation and further investigate what barriers exist in accessing services, which services work well and why, and how could (if any) new services fill existing gaps. Their report will be produced early September, just in time to inform local commissioning intentions. Due to the timing of this report the findings are not included but we are aware that they reinforce the work that is going on to improve services.

Healthwatch Middlesbrough issued 2 recommendation which include:

1.Promotion of the service by South Tees CCG, Public Health and the providers to be more joined up with the introduction of a Joint Communication Strategy. Most people we talked to were unaware of the service.

2. Many of the people we spoke to told Healthwatch Middlesbrough that leaflets were not the best way to communicate information. Rather, they would prefer to receive the information from their community leaders. Healthwatch Middlesbrough has established excellent working relationships with local community leaders and would be prepared to offer assistance to the CCG and Public Health to further develop their links. It would be our recommendation that as part of the Communication Strategy, alternative ways such as talking to community leaders be adopted alongside the more traditional poster and leaflet drops. Our recommendation would be that information is shared by developing “health champions” within communities. These champions would require basic training and on-going support by Public Health.