The College of Medicine is driving a project in communities across the UK to tackle food poverty.
This week sees the re-launch of the ‘Eatwell Community’ model, once part of the National Food Strategy, in three UK towns and cities; Cambridge, Daventry and Padiham, near Burnley.
The replicable blueprint for healthier communities aims to reduce the number of ‘food insecure’ households – currently estimated at around 7.2million in the UK, with particular focus on children enduring food poverty.
Dr James Fleming, a GP in Padiham, says the mission of Eatwell Communities is to transform the local food ecosystems to support communities to help people live happier, healthier lives.
GP Dr James Fleming said he’s ‘tired’ of seeing young people with not enough food to eat (Dr Fleming pictured with pupils at Padiham Green Church of England Primary School, who spoke about the importance of healthy eating at IPM Congress in 2024)
He told The College of Medicine: ‘I am 100% committed to ending food insecurity in Burnley, but also to using that model to learn, lobby and disseminate across the UK.
‘I am tired of seeing children who do not have enough to eat or who are eating the wrong food. I feel like this is our legacy and feel compelled to do something about it because of the privilege of my position as a GP with convening power within my community.’
An Eatwell Community is a local initiative designed to improve diet-related health through encouraging a positive relationship with food and enhancing the local food ecosystem.
It aims to create an environment where access to nutritious food is easy, and where involvement with the local food system is encouraged. Fostering habits that lead to improved overall health and wellbeing.
Four pillars of the Eatwell Community initiative:
Grow: Involving the local community in the growing food, as evidence is emerging that demonstrates the positive impacts that green social prescribing can have upon health.
Cook: As a powerful mechanism to bring together a diverse group of people, and improve confidence with cooking healthy food.
Eat: Creative about increasing the affordability and availability of healthy, nutritious food.
Talk: Identify individuals who require intensive support to achieve their diet and health goals.
The College of Medicine’s Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, said: ‘Food poverty, especially affecting children, is a national disgrace, particularly as a poor diet is the major factor in modern disease.
‘The Eatwell Communities of the abandoned National Food Strategy were designed to further the College’s mission of enabling everyone to eat healthy food. That is why the College of Medicine will now be heading the Eatwell Communities programme itself in Burnley, Cambridge and Daventry with these three inspirational leaders at the helm.’
In Daventry, Dr Cheryl Thallon says children’s lives are deeply impacted if they don’t have access to healthy food (Image: Pixabay)
Dr Dixon added: ‘We will demonstrate what is possible when there is a determined local will to overcome the conspiracy of vested interests that stand in the way of us all eating a healthy diet.’
Cheryl Thallon, who is coordinating the initiative in Daventry, Northamptonshire says around 20% of Daventry children aged 19 or under live within relative low-income families – and highlights Professor Marmot’s assertion that it’s ‘our postcode that determines our health far more than our genetic code’.
She said: ‘If you are living in a deprived area, you will have 18 to 19 years less good health than if you live in an affluent area, and you will die 10 years earlier. Surely this is unacceptable in 21st century England. I believe that creating an Eatwell Community is an opportunity to make a real difference.’
College of Medicine Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, says it’s a ‘national disgrace’ that children are facing food poverty in 2024
In Cambridge, Dr Liam Loftus, a GP Registrar working to end food poverty in what is often considered an ‘advantaged’ area, says: ‘Establishing a national network of Eatwell Communities provides a wonderful opportunity to transform our local food ecosystems, and support our communities with living happier, healthier lives.’
He adds: ‘In my day-to-day work, I’ve seen first-hand the impact that lack of access to affordable, nutritious food can have upon the individuals and families I meet. I firmly believe that the creation of a Cambridge Eatwell Community will provide a powerful vehicle for tackling this, creating positive, ground-up change.’
The UK food system is failing with 11% of the population reportedly living in ‘food insecure’ households in 2022/23. The number of people living in food poverty rose to 7.2 million in 2022/23, an increase of 2.5 million people since 2021/22, according to data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).