Building workforce confidence on healthier weight: “Why weight to talk?” rolls out in Lancashire and Northumbria

Building on the successful delivery of “Why weight to talk?” across Cheshire and Merseyside, Health Equalities Group is now working in partnership with Lancashire County Council and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to embed the programme across Lancashire and Northumbria. These new projects draw directly on learning from the completed Cheshire and Merseyside programme, which demonstrated that compassionate, stigma-informed brief advice can increase practitioner confidence, shift attitudes away from blame, and strengthen referral into local support services.

In both areas, delivery is grounded in close collaboration with NHS colleagues, local authority public health teams and partners across the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector. This multi-sectoral approach reflects the programme’s core aim: to support frontline professionals across systems to have sensitive, non-judgemental conversations about healthier weight, informed by an understanding of trauma, stigma and the wider determinants of health.

In Lancashire, all 12 district councils were invited to submit an expression of interest to participate in the programme. Seven districts have already engaged, and a delivery plan is now in place to work with these areas over the next 12 months. This will involve mapping local healthier weight provision, embedding local pathways and resources within the training offer, and training a multi-sectoral group of staff through a train-the-trainer model to cascade the programme more widely and sustainably across the county.

In Northumbria, work has focused on detailed mapping of healthier weight services across Northumberland and North Tyneside, bringing together statutory, NHS and VCFSE provision. These mapped services are now being embedded within the MECC Gateway, an online directory of support services across the North East and North Cumbria, ensuring that practitioners trained through “Why weight to talk?” have access to clear, up-to-date referral routes that are integrated into existing practice.

Across both programmes, the next phase will focus on expanding training reach, supporting local trainers, and embedding robust monitoring and evaluation to understand impact over time. Together, this work reflects Health Equalities Group’s continued commitment to system-level, compassionate approaches to healthier weight that support the workforce, challenge stigma and contribute to reducing health inequalities.