Food and Health Action Plan for Ayrshire

Time for Action

NHS Ayrshire & Arran and partners are looking for your views on their action plan to improve our health through the food we eat.

Poor eating habits can lead to a greater chance of poor health including obesity, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers. Improving what we eat can lead to both better physical and mental well being.

The Food and Health Action Plan sets out actions to help people eat more healthily, particularly in the most vulnerable groups of the community. The action plan aims to do this by:

Making sure our work helps to reduce inequalities in nutrition. This is particularly aimed at improving the health of mums, children under two years old and older people.

Helping the public sector provide healthy food to meet the needs of patients and consumers.

Providing support, education and skills to allow people to choose healthier eating options that are suitable for their age and their health.

Co-ordinating work on nutrition and collecting and sharing relevant information.

This action plan is available for everyone in Ayrshire and Arran to read and provide comments on. Your views are important and valuable in helping to decide on future work to support good eating for good health.

A link to the draft Food and Health Action Plan is available on NHS and local authority websites to allow as many people as possible to give us their comments. The action plan can be accessed at: www.mhnayrshireandarran.org/

Responding is very easy with a web based system which allows respondents to complete questionnaires anonymously online from the above link.

If you would like a paper copy of the action plan please contact Joanne Robertson on 01292 885949. The action plan is also available in other formats or languages.

We look forward to receiving your views especially if you are in one of the groups mentioned above or if you work in these areas. We would like your views by Friday 30th November 2007.

For more information contact:
Fiona Smith RD RPHNutr
Public Health Nutritionist
NHS Ayrshire and Arran
Boswell House
Ayr KA7 1QJ
01292 885922
fionasmith@aapct.scot.nhs.uk