Department of Health  16 November 2007 [Tam Fry]

NOF broadly welcomes the publication of the Health and Social Care Bill but the welcome does not stretch to complete acceptance of two of its proposals – the health in pregnancy grant and the legislative cover for performance management and routine feedback to parents as part of the National Child Measurement Programme [NCMP].

 

It is welcome that the government is gradually beginning to focus attention on the prevention of overweight as well as its management.  NOF has long held that the roots of the childhood epidemic lie at the initial stages of life and that addressing issues at this time is crucial.  The idea however that giving women a lump sum of £190 as an incentive to eat healthily in their third trimester seems a little mistimed.  NICE states that “ interventions which ensure that a woman is nutritionally equipped for pregnancy are likely to have the greatest effect if delivered before conception and during the first 12 weeks “.  In this instance, NOF believes that NICE is right. 

 

 

The Bill seeks to make both the school and pre-school NCMP measurements that it envisages routinely available to parents.  On their own, however, the height and weight measurements are fairly meaningless: combined however, and entered serially into the parent-held Personal Child Health Record [PCHR] they could be invaluable in detecting the early signs of overweight.  Unfortunately this cannot currently be done because DH “ experts “ have vetoed their inclusion in PCHRs.  The grounds for this exclusion are that they might lead to children becoming anorexic - or worse!   This flies in the face of logic since, with appropriate accompanying information, BMI charts could empower parents periodically to check that their offspring are keeping within a healthy BMI range.  There is a volume of literature describing how parents fail to recognise what a healthy BMI range is: not to provide them with charts which graphically describe it seems to be quite short-sighted.

 

 

NOF will monitor the passage of the Bill and update this site when/if it becomes Law.