Healthy Connections – Evaluation of Clarendon Medical Wellbeing Pilot for People Living with Obesity

Social workers began working in GP surgeries within the WHSCT in 2019 including those in Clarendon Medical. Within this surgery the social workers identified barriers which they believed were preventing patients who were overweight attending the surgery and finding healthy ways in which to manage their weight. They invited patients with a BMI of over 40 to join them in a coproduction process aimed at designing a pilot programme which would help them manage their weight by understanding their relationship with food. The programme adopted the approach of embedding the social workers and the researcher into the process as well as promoting the ethos of facilitators as part of the group.
Findings from the analysis showed that the patients found the programme
overwhelmingly a positive experience. The process of coproduction allowed the
patients to select what they needed and the results of the programme in terms of
transformation and learning reflect that. The focus of the programme on the “inside” rather than the “outside” proved to be the missing element in understanding the patient’s relationship with food. Outcomes included transformation of relationships with the self and with others, achievement and maintenance of sobriety, weight loss and the formation of positive and solid connections within and beyond the GP surgery. The patients see this as the starting point of making sustained changes.