Child Weight Management Service

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The service

Our service was launched in May 2022 with the aim of supporting children and young people aged 5 to 17 years old who were found to be over the healthy weight range according to a recent body mass index (BMI) measurement. We work closely with the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) and with our local GP surgeries to locate children who could benefit from our service. 

If you have been contacted by us or have received a letter from the National Child Weight Management Programme informing you that your child is over the healthy weight range, we understand that this can bring feelings of concern or shame. Firstly, we would like to reassure you that you are not alone, about 30% of the children in the UK are estimated to be over the healthy weight range.

We also want to reassure you that our focus is on empowering families to make healthy choices without shame, and weight is recorded and discussed with a focus on promoting good health outcomes.

We understand that weight can be impacted by various factors and aim to provide a holistic approach for you and your family’s wellbeing. 

Referral information:

• If you have not been contacted by us but are interested in being seen, please complete this form. 
• if you have not been contacted by us but are interested in being seen, please follow this link to access the self referral form.

Impact

Children and families who attend our service have positive outcomes. Nearly 60% of children we work with either reduce their BMI and then maintain their lower BMI score; or maintain their current BMI.

On average, children successfully took on two lifestyle changes. Some examples include: 

• Reducing sugary drinks
• Increasing fruit and vegetable intake
• Eating less takeaways

Children also took on one exercise change, for example:

• Increasing walking
• Taking up a new sport
• Spending more time outdoors

We’ve had great feedback with 98% of families rating our service as “Good” or “Excellent”. Feedback also described us as friendly, able to handle a delicate conversation well, and able to tailor the conversation to the child’s needs. 

In 2024, we were also nominated for a Valued Award for our “innovative approach to addressing health inequalities among children in East Haringey”

Children and families are initially invited to attend an assessment session with a nutritionist who will have an open discussion about diet habits and physical activity levels. 

Based on this conversation, your nutritionist will work with you both to create a plan to improve certain elements of your child’s health, and review if any appropriate exercise programmes are available.

Approximately three months later, we will bring you both back for your child’s first follow-up appointment to review progress and discuss any issues they might have faced, at the end of this session you will both have an updated plan and additional guidance. 

A second follow-up appointment is arranged six months after the initial appointment to review long-term progress, discuss the effectiveness of the changes made, and provide guidance as necessary before discharge from the service.

While these are the three main appointments, we will be keeping in touch with you regularly! Between appointments, our link worker will be checking in to provide support. They will also help connect your child to other services that can help them make positive changes between appointments.