Author: Victoria Crown

CCH win Southwark Healthy Weight Training Contract

Innovative online education company to support London Borough attain a healthy weight

London, UK: The College of Contemporary Health, an online college specialising in innovative e-Learning for health professionals in weight management and obesity care, are excited to announce that we have secured the opportunity to partner with the London Borough of Southwark and develop online courses for health professionals and community members in the Borough.

Southwark has some of the highest rates of obesity in the country with 47% of all adults and 43% of children in year 6 classified as overweight and obese. Overweight and obesity not only impacts the quality of life of Southwark residents but also on their productivity and health.  

Southwark Council is committed to delivering its vision to make Southwark a safer and healthier place and CCH is delighted to be collaborating with Southwark to improve the health of the local population and to help them achieve that goal. CCH will do this by providing a bespoke e-learning offering for the Borough.  

CCH are experienced providers of continuing professional development (CPD) accredited e- Learning and will be developing 2 unique courses for health professionals and community members across the London Borough of Southwark.

I am delighted that CCH has secured the tender for this exciting and innovative project within the Borough of Southwark. With fewer than 0.1% of health professionals in the UK having any training in the critical public health area of obesity, it is great to be partnering with an organisation who is keen to make a difference. We are excited to be offered the opportunity to deliver courses that will better equip health and community members in Southwark.

Daniel Pothecary-Smith, Business Development Executive, CCH.

About College of Contemporary Health (CCH): College of Contemporary Health is an e-Learning college providing accessible online training for health professionals in weight management and obesity care. All CCH courses are evidence-based, use a learner centred approach and are overseen by an esteemed Academic Advisory Board. CCH have trained health professionals across the UK and globe and provide the only completely online Masters in Obesity Care and Management.

Starting an online Masters – Do you know what to expect?

What do I need to consider before starting?

Studying at master's level does require a higher level of commitment. To get the most out of your studies, it is important that you set time aside to read and study the materials. CCH's MSc in Obesity Care and Management is made up of presentations, videos, podcasts and reading materials to complement, and suit, all learning styles.

Who will I be studying with?

You will be studying with fellow health professionals from across the UK and the globe including: GPs, doctors, nurses, physicians, surgeons, physiotherapists, dieticians, nutritionists, psychologists and professionals working in weight management. Our international student base means that you have the unique opportunity to share best practice with health professionals from across the globe!

Will I get support?

CCH student support is second to none. From online tutors and module leaders, assisting you to achieve your best academic potential, to an in-house tech and admissions team to help you with any query you have – no matter how big or small! You will be completely supported throughout your time at CCH.

Will it even be worth it

Absolutely! Studying the Masters in Obesity Care and Management prepares you for the challenges that patients with obesity can present. The course gives you the tools, skills and confidence to provide your patients with the best evidence-based obesity care and weight management.

What can I do after studying?

The MSc Obesity Care and Management prepares health professionals for a leadership role within weight and obesity management. This includes: GPs, doctors, nurses, physicians, surgeons, physiotherapists, dieticians, psychologists, and counsellors running weight management clinics. On completing the MSc you will have the knowledge and skills to further improve patient care which could enhance your future career progression.

World Cancer Research Fund’s cancer prevention package!

Did you know that being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing 11 different types of cancer? In fact, after not smoking, being a healthy weight is the most important thing people can do to reduce your cancer risk.

As part of the CCH network, you can take advantage of World Cancer Research Fund’s cancer prevention package! – This FREE package will help you to raise awareness of cancer prevention and support people who want to reduce their cancer risk.

The free package includes:

• Access to online cancer prevention training (worth £45)
• A free bundle of publications, including booklets, leaflets and posters plus a 50% discount on future orders
• Subscription to Informed, a cancer prevention newsletter which mails every four months
• Updates on the latest cancer prevention news and health information resources

“Working together we can beat cancer”– Community Health Trainer

Click here! – to get your free resources and training.

Please note that the package is only available to health professionals based in the UK. 
If you have any questions about World Cancer Research Fund’s cancer prevention package please contact them on 020 7343 4200 or informed@wcrf.org

CCH attend Southwark’s Great Weight Debate

On Tuesday 01 November 2016, The College of Contemporary Health attended the Great Weight Debate hosted by Southwark Council at Cambridge House.

Paul Stokes, Head of Southwark Public Health, opened the busy meeting by introducing its ultimate goal: to engage with stakeholders and the public in order to find new approaches to tackle obesity. Southwark council, as revealed by Councillor Maisie Anderson, has some of the highest rates of overweight and obesity in the UK. 56% of adults and 46% of children in the borough are either overweight or obese. These percentages put the borough at the top of the UK obesity league tables. The impact of obesity in the borough is devastating.

Therefore, the council has endeavoured to develop a comprehensive ‘Healthy Weight Strategy’ aiming to significantly reduce levels of overweight and obesity by 2020.

Russel Carter, a consultant in Public Health, introduced the strategy, which is focussed on prevention and relies on four key principles:

1. Life-course but prioritising children and early years
2. Family focused
3. Whole systems approach
4. Prevention and treatment

He reinforced that the strategy should be everybody’s business and that the main objective of this meeting was to discuss the strategy with the various stakeholders and get people engaged and involved.

The strategy is split into the following four parts.

The remainder of the meeting was filled with talks describing examples of some of the current initiatives that implement the measures above.

Sue Amos introduced the benefits of gardening; Sue started the Burgess Park Food Project to work with the local community to increase understanding of healthy fresh food, promote food growing and bring people together. Many studies have shown the positive effects of gardening on people’s health and BMI. In fact, the World Cancer Research Fund suggests that people who engage in 30 minutes of gardening can burn up to 145 calories.

Lee Souter discussed the Healthy Schools Partnership initiative. Lee started his talk by engaging the audience with a lively debate on whether girls or boys were better at sport. The audience concluded that there wasn’t a simple answer and that it depended on a variety of factors.

The program aims to invest in educating children in their formative years to prevent suffering, reduce inequality, create healthy and productive adults, and deliver social and economic dividends to the nation. So far there have been numerous achievements including Comber Grove school (Silver Healthy School) and Robert Browning school (Gold Healthy School).

The next talk was by Jane Love who introduced, the UNICEF baby friendly initiative. The initiative supports mothers to be able to initiate and sustain exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and ensure the timely introduction of adequate, and safe, complementary foods with continued breast feeding of up to two years or beyond. But why does breastfeeding matter? According to, Jane Love, it saves lives, improves health, cuts costs and is associated with a 13% reduction in obesity.

Finally, Dr Zoe Williams spoke about how obesity does not affect all groups equally and went on to discuss what is available in Southwark for obesity prevention and management. There are a number of Tier 2 services and a Tier 3 service is in development. Southwark does also have access to two hospitals that offer bariatric surgery (Tier 4).

In fact, Southwark is the first borough in South East London to be creating a Tier 3 Service. The service will apply a multidisciplinary, clinically led team approach including: nutrition, physical activity and psychological components.

A study done on Southwark patients, or service users, as they preferred to be called, revealed that patients thought that there was a great need for NHS weight management services, and that they were often put off by commercial weight loss programs. They praised the fact that everything would be under one roof and were keen for a self-referral option.

Finally, as part of getting everyone involved, there were two workshops for the attendees where they were asked what else could be done to strengthen the strategy. The main take home messages from these workshops were, that since obesity is strongly linked to inequalities, a targeted approach to those suffering inequalities, and the need for training of healthcare professionals, was echoed across the room.

The Great Weight Debate is a Healthy London Partnership initiative and everyone can be involved.

Please visit their website and spend 2 minutes completing a survey on Childhood Obesity.

CCH among experts on the Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan

The Government’s long-awaited plan to reduce the staggeringly high levels of children’s obesity across the UK was published, following a number of delays, in August 2016. Many felt that the 13-page plan had been significantly watered down and lacked substance. It was also felt that by publishing the plan during the government’s summer recess that it would escape the attention of the media but given the importance of the childhood obesity plan its lack of substance drew widespread criticism and scrutiny.

On Monday 17 October the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adult and Childhood Obesity held a meeting, chaired by Maggie Throup MP, to discuss the Childhood Obesity Plan. CCH was delighted to attend this meeting and hear the views of experts on the matter.

• Professor Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health at Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford
• Alison Cox, Director of Prevention at Cancer Research UK
• Malcolm Clark, Co-ordinator at the Children’s Food Campaign
• Professor Neena Modi, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Professor of Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College London

All of the experts agreed that the published plan was disappointing and that there were glaring omissions.

Professor Susan Jebb opened the discussion by mentioning that the biggest strength of the Childhood Obesity Plan was that it has put the matter of obesity back on the agenda. She then went on to discuss the shortcomings of the plan. The main one being the lack of an advertising ban. Furthermore, Professor Jebb insisted that in tackling this problem we cannot only focus on children, but we also need to focus on treatment for all generations just as much as we need to focus on prevention.

Malcolm Clark continued the conversation and discussed how the common agricultural policy needs to be reviewed, with giving farmers incentives making healthier products less costly and more achievable. He also mentioned that the school food plan should be reviewed.

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Haringey Obesity Alliance ‘One Year On’

On Tuesday 18 July 2016, Dr Laura Benzonana attended the 2nd Annual Haringey Obesity Alliance event: ‘One Year On’.

The Haringey Obesity Alliance is a group of local organisations committed to working together to reduce obesity.

Comprised of local schools, the NHS, businesses and the voluntary sector, the Haringey Obesity Alliance is helping to make Haringey a healthier place where fewer people are overweight or obese.
Chaired by Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, the Alliance aims to coordinate efforts to fight obesity to ensure it has the greatest possible impact locally.

The event outlined the great work being carried out by many members of the Alliance such as Streetzahead, a charity that provides 20-minute dance classes for school children, and Homes for Haringey, an organisation involved in removing the ‘No Ball Games’ signs from Haringey in order to encourage children to play outside. Smarter Travel, a part a Haringey Council, has initiated the walking for health programme, and the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation are providing weight management through the Shape up with Spurs programme.

CCH are proud to be a part of the Alliance and have pledged to provide a number of Professional Short Courses to educate nurses in the Haringey community.

CCH among experts and influencers on combating Adult and Childhood Obesity

On Monday 11 July 2016 Dr Laura Benzonana and Mrs Victoria Crown attended a meeting held by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Adult and Childhood Obesity at the Palace of Westminster. The meeting was chaired by Maggie Throup MP and co-chaired by John McNally MP.

The aim of the APPG is to bring together experts and influencers to agree and deliver powerful, practical and achievable solutions to obesity. The APPG also aims to oversee government progress; as well as review and assess government policy on obesity.

CCH are delighted to be a part of this group and were pleased to join the meeting in Westminster on Monday. There were some excellent talks by Dr Harry Rutter of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Dr Rachel Batterham and Dr Jude Oben, both from UCL. Following the talks, there was a lively debate among the collection of experts, MPs, members of the public and health professionals.

This is an excellent forum for discussion, and we look forward to the next meeting in October.

“My vision is for the all-party group to become a forum for lively discussion of practical ways in which we can support people both to live healthier lives themselves and to help their children grow up healthy”.

Maggie Throup MP, House of Commons January 21 2016

International Nurses Day

May 12th is International Nurses Day. The College of Contemporary Health would like to take this opportunity to thank nurses for all the hard work, commitment and effort they put in every day.

Nurses enable healthy lives and enhance patient well-being on a daily basis. The management of weight and weight related conditions form an integral part of the nursing profession.

As a small token of our appreciation we would like to offer a 10% saving on the innovative online Professional Short Course: Living and Working with Obesity, specifically tailored to the nursing profession. By understanding the obesity crisis, nurses benefit by gaining the confidence and the competence needed to help inspire patients, family, friends and colleagues toward successful weight loss.

This course can be used towards revalidation not only by earning CPD hours but by being an excellent opportunity for a reflective account and a potential source of colleague and patient feedback.

 

“I have completed the professional short course Living and Working with Obesity, and although I’m not obese, I chose to study the course because I have family members who are obese and I would like to guide and motivate them to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle. I found the course very informative which has motivated me to apply for the Postgraduate Certificate and further improve my knowledge in obesity care.”

LSBU has validated the CCH’s online postgraduate qualifications in Obesity Care and Management, including the UK’s first online Masters

London South Bank University (LSBU) has accredited and helped develop three innovative new online courses in Obesity Care and Management, including the UK’s first completely online Masters degree in the field. The courses are being delivered by the College of Contemporary Health (CCH), which has been pioneering online university-level obesity courses since 2013.

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‘This course has benefitted my practice’

A patient of mine weighing 210 kg was admitted having sustained a cervical fracture with an SCI. Post-surgery he was unable to maintain his oxygen saturations.

and it was assumed that this was related to his cord injury. I was able to identify that it was due to undiagnosed OSA and the position of his palate due to his obesity; as a result we changed our management and his saturations returned to normal.

Without my knowledge gained from the course we would not have changed our usual practice.

Dietary Sugars, Obesity & Metabolic Disease Risk, World Obesity Federation Event – Berlin, Germany

Consumption of dietary sugars has increased in the population and emerged as a major dietary component that has been linked with development of obesity and associated metabolic outcomes. The issues surrounding dietary sugars have become of global importance and have numerous implications for the development of suitable local, national and global policies that might prove successful in combating obesity. These issues include sugar/soda taxes, warning signs on foods/beverages that are high in sugars and global trade policies.

The science behind the links between dietary sugars and obesity/metabolic outcomes is rapidly developing and it would be of great benefit to the scientific community to be reviewed and brought together at one venue. There are also numerous evolving controversies and discrepancies in this field of study that this conference would aim to resolve by bringing world experts together into an atmosphere of collegial sharing and consensus building.

This World Obesity Federation event in Berlin, Germany, will feature an interactive poster session and will appeal to a broad inter-disciplinary mix of basic, clinical, epidemiological, and population based researchers working in the area of dietary sugars and obesity/metabolic diseases. This includes researchers, clinicians, health professionals, policy and public health scientists in addition to representatives from government, policy institutes and industry.