Researchers help NHS clinics support children with weight-related complications
Researchers at Leeds Beckett University are collaborating on a new £1.5m project to evaluate NHS clinics across England set up to support children and young people who have weight-related complications.
The project is led by Sheffield Hallam University and is a collaboration with Leeds Beckett University, the Universities of Leeds and Bristol, and Sheffield Children’s Hospital. The team will evaluate the effectiveness of 21 Complications of Excess Weight (CEW) clinics across England.
The clinics support children and young people with issues including type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties while sleeping, low self-esteem and emotional wellbeing.
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the research will look at best practice in the clinics, through speaking to those delivering the service, and outline ways they can be improved for patients.
The team will speak to young people and families from different backgrounds who attend the clinics to find out about their experiences and whether the services offered helped to improve their lives.
Louisa Ells, Professor of Obesity and Co-director of the Obesity Institute at Leeds Beckett University, is co-leading the project with Dr Catherine Homer, Associate Professor of Obesity and Public Health at Sheffield Hallam University.
Professor Ells said: “Given the serious social, physical and psychological impacts of living with obesity during childhood and adolescence, person-centred compassionate support is paramount.
“It is therefore a great honour and privilege to be co-leading this important study with our partners at Sheffield Hallam, building on our long-standing collaboration and partnership in the evaluation of the NHS low calorie diet programme.”
Dr James Nobles, Senior Research Fellow in the Obesity Institute at Leeds Beckett, said: “Given that there are more than 20 of these CEW clinics across England, it is really important for us to understand what each one looks like.
“We have a dedicated work package which will find this out - looking specifically at who is involved, how the service is delivered, where it is delivered, and how it aims to best support young people and their families. We also plan to do some more in-depth work with between four and six of the clinics to identify areas of excellent practice.”
Dr Jamie Matu, Reader in the Obesity Institute at Leeds Beckett, added: “The quantitative aspect of this project, led by Dr Adam Martin at the University of Leeds, will look at what the benefits are to these young people.
“We will also look at how much it costs the NHS and patients, and whether this is good value for money. This will include looking at information on where children and young people attending the clinics live, their age, ethnicity, and information about their physical and mental health.”
Dr Catherine Homer said: “We know that for many children, young people and their families, living with obesity has really shocking impacts on their health, wellbeing and daily lives.
“The CEW clinics are using holistic individualised approaches supported by multidisciplinary teams across England to work with children and young people to treat the complications they experience.
“By working with our academic and clinical team we hope to develop and share understanding of what is working and what isn’t within the clinics and the optimal levels of care for complications relating to obesity in childhood.”
Professor Ells led the £1.5m evaluation of the NHS low calorie diet programme – which provides targeted support to adults living with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Funded by the NIHR, the Re:Mission project will be completed and launched at an event in March 2024.