Oxford Hospital Trust bans sugary drinks across its sites

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been working with retailers across its four hospital sites to offer healthier food and drinks choices to staff, patients, and visitors, aiming to go above and beyond CQUIN targets.

With the support of the SUGAR SMART Oxford Campaign and the Trust's Healthy Eating Working Group members - including larger retailers such as WHSmith and Marks & Spencer - the most sugar-filled drinks (those above 5g per 100ml) have now successfully been removed from sale.

Since 2014, all retail and service providers within the Trust have met regularly to work towards a healthier eating agenda, and have continued to maintain these healthier standards. Joining the SUGAR SMART Oxford Campaign, the Trust outlined a wide-reaching strategy to provide healthier food options to its staff, patients and visitors.

The Trust has worked with its retailers to make changes such as:

• removing promotions and adverts for sugary drinks and food high in fat, sugar, and salt
• removing these items from checkouts where people often make impulse buys
• increasing the availability of fresh fruit, water, and healthier snack alternatives
• providing healthier snack alternatives in vending machines.

The Trust's further goal was to remove sugary drinks from sale entirely - something few other Trusts have succeeded to date. It took a lot of work, and the team reached out to the wider SUGAR SMART network to gather evidence on impact on sales from similar bans of sugary drinks. With retailer WHSmith finally agreeing to remove sugary drinks from its sites, the Trust was able to achieve their overall goal.

Dr Emily Dobell from the Trust's Public Health Team, said:

The Trust is very grateful for the retailers' support, and plans to continue to work towards a healthier hospital food environment by meeting regularly with retailers, reviewing the food offered in line with public health guidance, and sharing best practice from other trusts around the country.

Oxford University Hospital Foundation Trust will be one of 10 flagship organisations within the SUGAR SMART Oxford Campaign to be awarded a Golden Teaspoon for the brilliant work they are doing to reduce overconsumption of sugar in their settings and communities. The awards will be part of the Oxford Campaign's one year celebration event in September.

SUGAR SMART is a campaign run by Sustain. SUGAR SMART is one of the featured campaigns in the UK's Sustainable Food Cities Network.