New obesity training courses 2019

Here are some e-learning resources that may be of interest:

Rcgp have just released an updated Obesity e-learning course which may be of interest.

• the Obesity eLearning course is live and can be accessed here: http://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=295

 

This course discusses the complex web of interactions between society, genetics, endocrinology, neurobiology and personal agency that can lead to obesity. It offers primary care focussed solutions that can be easily adapted to the individual patient and used in a day-to-day consultation.  Understanding how behaviour can be influenced can help when conveying evidence and treatment options in a meaningful and feasible way to make patients feel empowered and stick to healthier lifestyle choices.

British Society of Lifestyle Medicine may also be of interest to some readers https://bslm.org.uk/

For more in-depth training

There is further more detailed obesity training that leads to international accreditation through the SCOPE /World Obesity Federation e-learning and SCOPE School system – see https://www.worldobesity.org/training-and-events/training/scope

In May 2019 I will be running a several full-day workshops for hands on communication training in obesity, malnutrition and lifestyle and how they interlink with long-term conditions.

Provisional dates are

Thursday 16th and Friday 17th May – provisionally London / Bristol

Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th May – provisionally Birmingham / Manchester

Thursday 30th May – Dublin

Please contact Tessa Hood tessa.hood@foodmatterslive.com if you wanted more info about this.

 

For anyone wanting an update on policy issues around obesity then go to Obesity Health Alliance  http://obesityhealthalliance.org.uk/

 

 

 

Great RCGP Conference for GPING, Glasgow Oct 2018

GPING members ran a really vibrant and successful stand in conjunction with SCOPE/World Obesity at the recent RCGP annual conference in Glasgow, as well as running a sell-out lunchtime symposium. We appreciated the unrestricted educational sponsorship from Novo Nordisk to fund the stand and lunchtime symposium.

There was huge interest in both the educational material on display as well as in our Sit-Stand Challenge competition. Some GPs are remarkably competitive…The top score was over 50 sit-stands in just 30 seconds – Amazing!! Huge thanks to Rupy Aujla for donating two prizes – copies of his cookbook The Doctor’s Kitchen. Each day’s winner was delighted with their copy.

The Friday lunchtime symposium –Are you Fit to Tackle Multimorbidity – was also a huge success with people being turned away outside the door. My deep thanks to Paul Aveyard – updating us on brief interventions, to Carly Hughes – reviewing complex obesity management, and to Alan Skirving, a local Glasgow Tai Chi teacher who got the whole room tuning into their inner mind to explore movement and balance. Tai Chi is a social prescribing option in lots of areas nowadays that can help those patients who struggle most with physical activity and need a gentle supported introduction.

We had a very successful partnership with SCOPE/World Obesity and really appreciated their help. SCOPE have recently released two free e-learning modules of particular interest to GPs, trainees and allied healthcare workers based in primary care:

1. Weight Management in Primary Care, by Charles Capper, – an excellent module that addresses lots of the common issues faced by GPs when managing obesity
2. Primary Care Weight Management: Shaping the Conversation, by Dr Rachel Pryke, – which addresses fears around starting obesity discussions and explores common pitfalls where the conversation might go wrong.

You can access both at https://www.worldobesity.org/scope/e-learning/free-supplementary-modules/

We encourage everyone to find out more about SCOPE obesity training – you might want to do the full SCOPE training by completing the core modules, or you can dip into some of the free supplementary modules.

My next focus within RCGP is how we bring lifestyle advice to patients with several long-term conditions. Hence the Multimorbidity Spotlight project. If you haven’t already done the survey on your experiences of delivering chronic disease care for people with several conditions then I’d really appreciate you taking part. Thank you. https://r1.dotmailer-surveys.com/b649lxf0-0c3b5810

The next RCGP Introductory Certificate course is planned for June 15th 2018 in Birmingham: details on the RCGP website

Tackling chronic diseases through lifestyle behaviour changes, nutrition and physical activity

Date	15 June 2018
Duration	Half day
Start Time	12:30
End Time	17:00
Type	Classroom based
Location	Birmingham
Audience	Foundation Doctor, GP Trainee, GP, GP Trainer or educator, Medical student, First5, Practice nurse, Retired GP

Member price: £0.00

Non-member price: £0.00

If you are eligible for a discount, this will be shown at the checkout after you have logged inThis event is free but you will be asked to make a deposit payment of £0.10 which will be refunded immediately. If you do not attend you will be charged £25.00.

Book through   midland@rcgp.org.uk  

Pleased to have article on comparison of obesity training in different countries published by WHO Euro Panorama journal. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/357310/PHP-1118-ProgrammeUK-eng.pdf?ua=1

GPING joins Facebook!

We held a short GPING meeting for those GPs attending the very inspiring UK Congress on Obesity in September 2017, at the University of South Wales.  We decided it was time to go technical, embarrass our children and set up a GPING Facebook page.

If interested, you can ask to join the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1549709875087352/

GPING members will all receive an invitation to join the Facebook group. If you know of other GPs with an interest in nutrition, obesity and physical activity then pass on the invitation to them too.

But don’t worry, emails will still be the common method of communication.

Support the fight against childhood obesity

Is it really a level playing field for the combined talents of highly skilled marketing teams to be pitching their products at young children without restriction?

We have an important opportunity to take forward our work tackling childhood obesity by persuading Chris Bryant MP to bring in a private members bill on junk food/ HFSS (high fat/salt/sugar) marketing and food labelling. Please take two minutes to complete his survey here: surveymonkey.com/r/5FTGNGW and show your support for the Food (marketing and labelling) Bill. This will help us to help reduce childhood obesity in the future. The survey closes on Tuesday so please vote now.

There are lots of activities happening to support this agenda but you can do your bit by trying to encourage our policy makers to prioritise action on food marketing and labelling.  Clearer guidelines are in everyone’s interests.

Uzbekistan training with WHO

December 2016 saw Rachel heading off to Uzbekistan to deliver a comprehensive primary care obesity training course to healthcare leaders there. Uzbekistan has very different obesity demographics to the UK, with low child obesity rates (reflecting the relatively low penetrance of ‘big food’ into traditional Uzbek eating behaviours) but high levels of stroke (a reflection of their high-salt diet stemming from traditional cooking practices) and awareness of a changing disease risk profile due to the increasing uptake of sugar-sweetened beverages due to the ‘big drinks’ companies establishing strong growth in the country.

The ‘cascade training’ model of the course suited the delegates well, who were largely academics, public health staff and university teachers, in charge of shaping their medical training and influencing the shape of their public health agenda.

Motivational interviewing was a completely new concept and the group workshops and case scenarios exploring how to give ‘patient-centred’ behaviour change advice were enthusiastically received.

It was a privilege to take part in such an interactive platform, and to learn more about how the obesity epidemic is running quite a different course in other food cultures. There were stark contrasts between the strong traditions-based food environment in comparison to the economically-driven multi-national basis of our food culture here in the West.

Rachel featured on You and Yours phone-in

Rachel took part in BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours child obesity phone-in last week, ‘ – commenting on some of the challenges that families talked about when trying to do the best for their children amidst today’s complex soup of conflicting advice, media pressure and commercial influence.

‘It was great to have the opportunity to explain some of the strong behavioural approaches that can help families develop confidence in eating a balanced diet and take part in enjoyable physical activity. The themes callers talked about were things I commonly see in practice and which many families struggle with. Finding ways to combat the unhealthy ‘norms’ that have now seeded in many people’s minds is one of our biggest challenges.’

The programme can be accessed on I-player at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qps9/episodes/player

Child Obesity Summit Nov 3rd

Rachel will be summarising some of the ways in which the National Child Measuring Programme can support increased action on child obesity in community settings at the  Child Obesity Summit at the Royal Society, London on November 3rd . www.childhoodobesitysummit.co.uk

This summit will bring together leading policy makers, academics and commissioners, including Dame Sally Davis and Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP. Anyone wishing to help shape this challenging but fundamentally important agenda is encouraged to book a place.

 

Obesity Health Alliance call for action

Please see and share the link to today’s letter in The Times re the urgent need for action on child obesity.

 

Letter in The Times on 8 July 2016 – Obesity Action Plea