NHS must prioritise healthier and sustainable food

04/07/2008

This press statement follows the lead story on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme (5 July, 2008), featuring Richard Parish, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Public Health. Sustain has participated in media interviews on this item, and is issuing this press statement for those wishing to follow up the story over the weekend of 5 and 6 July, and to provide contact information for relevant people and projects.

Professor Richard Parish is a leading public health expert. His feature on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme gave several inspiring examples of how public health can be very greatly improved by coordinated action by health professionals, working with communities. In the interview, Professor Parish called for the NHS to wield its considerable economic and organisational power by investing in public health – helping communities to improve health and well-being.

Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming (note 1) wholeheartedly supports Professor Parish’s call, noting that work to improve food has an enormous part to play in improving people’s health and wellbeing. Sustain has been working with publicly-funded organisations (the public sector) over the past 10 years, to improve the healthiness and sustainability of the food they serve.

Kath Dalmeny, policy director of Sustain, said: “The public sector spends £1.8 billion on food. That money could be used to prioritise healthy food and to support environmentally-sound food businesses, farmers and thriving local economies. The time has come for the public sector to recognise that it is a major investor of the public’s money, and use that money for public good.”

She continued: “Sustain works with public sector organisations such as schools and hospitals to help them improve the healthiness and sustainability of their food. They show that it is possible, positive and practical. Yet at the moment, we are relying on individual enthusiastic caterers to do the right thing. They are great champions, but top level government support is now needed to ensure that the very considerable public health benefits are enjoyed by people and communities throughout the country. The UK government must follow the lead of the Dutch government, and several regions in Italy, which have already done so.”

Sustain is calling for the UK government to build on the good work undertaken in schools over recent years, and make a similary commitment to healthy and sustainable food in all public sector catering – schools, hospitals, care homes, government offices and service organisations such as the army and police.

Contacts

Richard Parish, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, mobile: 07713 255972
Kath Dalmeny, Policy Director of Sustain, mobile: 07989 55782
Paul Lincoln or Jane Landon, National Heart Forum, who have a strong interest in integrated approaches to public health, tel: 020 7383 7638

NOTES

(1) Sustain is the national alliance for better food and farming. It is a charity that advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. See: http://www.sustainweb.org
(2) The Dutch government this year made a commitment to 100% sustainable procurement by national government by 2010. This includes a commitment to organic food, Fairtrade products, reduced packaging and nutrition standards. Further examples of EU developments are shown on the AlimenTerra website at: http://www.alimenterra.org and in the Mensa Civica newsletter: http://www.foodlinks.org.uk/reports/Summer%202007%20Newsletter%20d.pdf.

Information about projects that are working to improve the healthiness and sustainability of public sector catering

Sustain’s ‘Good Food on the Public Plate’ project has worked with over 24 hospitals in London and the Southeast to help them improve the healthiness and environmental sustainability of the food they serve. Great improvements are possible – often at little or no additional cost. Hospitals such as the Royal Brompton and South London & Maudsley, with enthusiastic and committed catering managers, have made major improvements and received positive feedback from staff, suppliers and patients alike. See the Good Food on the Public Plate project website at: http://www.sustainweb.org/page.php?id=83
The Royal Cornwall hospital is another example of a hospital that has made very substantial improvements to the healthiness and sustainability of their food. See: http://www.soilassociation.org/Web/SA/saweb.nsf/94b4d558e66793c680256fa800349138/303549f881a7a217802572d50056b270/$FILE/hospital_food.pdf
In the Cornwall project, 92% of patients described the food they were served as 'very good' or 'excellent'. By sourcing food locally, the scheme is also supporting the local economy. More than 80% of the trust's £975,000 food budget last year was spent with Cornish companies, compared with 40% previously. There is a sustainability advantage too, with local food procurement attributing to a reduction in annual food miles by 67% - down from 164,042 to 53,596 miles. Significantly, these results have been achieved without increasing costs, allowing the trust to keep within a budget of £2.50 per patient per day.
The Soil Association is running a major Lottery-funded programme called Food for Life, which is helping schools around the country to improve the healthiness and sustainability of the food they serve, and their food education. See: http://www.foodforlife.org.uk
With the Greenwich Cooperative Development Agency, Sustain is also running a training programme for public sector caterers called ‘Good Food Training for London’, sponsored by the London Development Agency, to improve skills of public sector staff in buying and preparing healthy and sustainable food, see: http://www.sustainweb.org/page.php?id=380
Professor Parish’s interview featured the Beacon Community Regeneration Partnership in Penwerris near Falmouth which has improved health, reduced crime rates and increased children’s attainment in school. Information about the Penwerris case study is at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2000/nov/15/communities.housingpolicy
http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/activecommunities/activecommunities52.htm
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmhealth/30/3012.htm