FHA conference sets priorities for future action

25 February 2008

Over 200 delegates took part in an action-packed day at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium on 5 February when the FHA held its second annual conference, entitled Moving forward with food and health.

The event consisted of plenary talks on national policy and interactive workshops where members attempted to draw up a list of priorities for future action. There was also a marketplace, a picture gallery and parallel sessions. Even the conference food followed the theme of the day, giving participants a chance to taste some of the best of Scottish catering.

In a unique experiment three Scottish catering groups an Edinburgh organic catering company, a school and a hospital catering department produced an enthusiastically received range of hot and cold foods at both lunchtime and the tea and coffee breaks.

Members' top priorities included:

A national database of nutritionally analysed recipes
Ensuring all schools have kitchen facilities
Making cookery and nutrition in schools compulsory
Extending maternity leave and breastfeeding support on return to work
A central food information and advice point
A funding adviser to provide help to voluntary projects

Earlier public health minister Shona Robison underlined the critical importance of joint working across all sectors of food and health and appealed for a new partnership to beat the 'rising epidemic' of obesity and unhealthy eating.

That partnership needed to cover stakeholders across all sectors and disciplines including employers, those in health care, land use planning, education, food production and retail.

The government was not starting from zero on this. It had already supported a wide range of actions including the healthyliving awards, the Scottish Healthy Grocers' healthyliving programme and the 500-plus community food groups that were now operating in deprived areas.

In addition the government's joint delivery plan, to be published in the spring, aimed to promote physical activity, healthy eating and maintaining a healthy weight. The plan included early intervention measures to help mothers and babies, free school meals for primary one to three schoolchildren and a £56m campaign to tackle the 'rising epidemic' of obesity.

But there was still much to be done and the key would be a multi-sectoral approach where public, private and voluntary sectors all worked together for a common goal.

Ms Robison outlined the series of national outcomes within the National Performance Framework, designed to encourage closer integration of policy. The framework contained 45 national indicators and targets to help assess the impact of the governments work.

She explained how the government's new plans for the health service, spelt out in Better Health Better Care, lay at the core of a new approach that linked together policy areas that were at one time considered divergent.

That involved seeing the NHS as shared by the Scottish people and the staff who worked in it.

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