Programme

Registration and refreshments

Chair’s opening remarks

Keynote address: Examining the progress made and future directions in obesity management

• Determining why limited success has been made in obesity prevention and management
• Reflecting on the Foresight Report and the progress that has been made since its release
• Assessing the implications of the financial crisis on the provision of obesity prevention programmes and obesity management services
• Exploring the next steps in tackling obesity and national developments in the pipeline

Key policy summary: An update on essential agendas and developments in obesity policy and guidance

• Reviewing current policies and those on the horizon: What are the targets and are they achievable?
• Which professional groups will be impacted by these targets and guidance and what are the implications?
• Exploring the strategic national approach to obesity management and the vision for what current initiatives will mean for the fight against obesity
• Overcoming the challenges of service delivery in a harsher financial climate to maximise long term cost-efficiencies through expenditure in the short term

Questions and answer session

Delegate discussion: Altering energy balance

Discuss with your fellow delegates the strategies being employed in your locality and share best practice around obesity management. Areas for discussion include:

Managing energy intake

• What are the latest developments in nutrition for obese patients and how effective are they? e.g. weight loss groups; liquid diets; GI; portion sizes and grazing versus meals
• Educating people about healthy eating on a limited budget

• How can all-or-none thinking around physical exercise be combated and activity promoted?
• What more can be done to increase the provision of formal physical activity programmes in the community given scarcity of resources?

Morning refreshments

Streamed sessions: Prevention and treatment

Stream A: Driving forward the prevention agenda in obesity

Update on the progress of the EPODE programme

• Reviewing the thinking behind EPODE: Planning, implementation and management to date
• Exploring successes in pan-European implementation of the EPODE programme
• Examining the methodology for measuring and evaluating the success of EPODE

Taking charge of the wider determinates of obesity: Working in partnership to prevent obesity and access hard to reach communities

• Developing a ‘Healthy Town’: Engaging all stakeholders to effectively mobilise the project
• Negotiating the challenges of cross-sector working: Overcoming competing objectives and developing shared goals
• Breaking down cultural barriers through appropriate and effective stakeholder engagement

Questions and answer session

Stream B: Delivering appropriate and cost-effective treatment

Improving the psychological and behavioural treatments available to obese patients

• Assessing the relative effectiveness of behaviour change interventions: CBT; RET; DBT and Motivational Interviewing
• Examining the regulation of psychological and behavioural treatments
• Exploring the parameters and implications of patient choice and self referral
• Empowering and motivating patients through the ongoing management of their condition
• Innovative ways to support patients and increase compliance with treatment e.g. email clinics; phone clinics

Supporting patients through the bariatric surgery process and beyond

• Identifying patients for who bariatric surgery is the best option and managing them through the referral process
• Examining best-practice for patient management when surgery is not an option
• Assessing what should be taken into consideration when balancing effectiveness with cost of treatment
• Managing patient expectations and supporting them psychologically through the surgery process and lifestyle changes it brings
• Developing an effective care plan for patients post-surgery
• Providing comprehensive follow-up services for patients who have had private treatment

Questions and answer session

Lunch

Addressing the needs of complex populations

Improving care pathways for the prevention and treatment of obesity during pregnancy

• Examining the available guidance, both UK and international, around the management of obesity during pregnancy
• Educating health professionals on how best to address the issue of obesity with pregnant women
• Looking at current UK initiatives around obesity management in pregnant women

Managing obesity in mental health inpatients

• Overcoming added complications: Medication, motivation and environment
• Promoting healthy behaviours and setting realistic targets on an individual basis
• Creating a culture of weight awareness: Normalising weight management in an institutional setting
• Engaging all stakeholders to help create a healthy environment e.g. patients, family members and hospital shops
• Improving staff knowledge about physical health and facilitating knowledge transfer to patients

Questions and answer session

Afternoon refreshments

Practical workshop sessions: Developing the right skill sets to maximise the reach of your services and secure financial investment

Developing effective business cases to gain project funding

• Examining the new commercial environment: Competing effectively for funding
• Understanding the commissioning of services/interventions and what commissioners are looking for
• Building effective relationships with commissioners and raising their awareness of community needs
• Compiling evidence for weight management interventions: Collecting and evaluating outcome measures and presenting findings

Questions and answer session

Planning, implementing, managing and feeding back on a social marketing campaign

• Raising commissioner awareness around social marketing and the benefits it can bring to an obesity prevention or management programme
• Making social marketing count: Ensuring social marketing is a priority that is well resourced
• Employing social marketing as an inequalities reduction strategy
• Understanding and implementing the key steps in a social marketing campaign: from initial scoping, through implementation, to evaluation of success

Questions and answer session

Chair’s closing remarks and end of conference