The pilot is the first project in Bristol to factor in the prescription of vegetables alongside education in an area of deprivation. The aim is to attempt to tackle the widening health inequality gap caused by food poverty an issue that is facing many people in the city of bristol.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I am very interested in the role that nutrition plays in the widening health inequalities
00:12that are profoundly affecting my patients and the impact that's having nationwide.
00:22So can you tell me a little bit about this pilot that you've been part of launching in order to help combat some of these issues?
00:30Yeah, so I'll start off, maybe I'll start off with a little bit of background.
00:36So I've been a GP for 15 years or so.
00:42And I think over that time, what has become more and more apparent is that the NHS is a changing landscape.
00:52And the NHS was designed to deal with infectious diseases where people lived very short lives.
01:02The health care profession needs to work with the voluntary sector to produce projects together.
01:09I need to get myself out of a job. So I am starting a number of projects, actually.
01:17But the one that we're talking about today is fruit and vegetables on prescription plus education.
01:26And we are now in week eight of that programme. And I can tell you more about that if you want me to.
01:33Yeah. Tell me more about that. What is the programme? How does it work?
01:37What vegetables and fruit are people getting on prescription?
01:41So we carefully selected 12 type 2 diabetic patients, so patients with type 2 diabetes, who were ready to engage.
01:53So I think the most one was many skills that you need as a health professional.
01:57But one of them is to meet people where they're at.
02:01In fact, there's lots of evidence that as health professionals, we can be really guilty of health stigma and particularly weight stigma, which can be counterproductive.
02:10So it's really important to meet people where they're at and where they're at in what we call a cycle of change.
02:14In terms of the future, then, obviously, you guys are one GP surgery.
02:20But, you know, food poverty, food insecurity, all of that is a massive, massive issue.
02:26A hundred percent.
02:27Actually, in Bristol, what would you like to see happen?
02:31So at least it's a recognition that there is a problem with the food system as it is.
02:37And I'll take that recognition. And actually, if you remember all the changes with tobacco, they started with grassroots stuff.
02:45Grassroots, grassroots, grassroots. And eventually the message got through and the tide started changing.
02:51So I'm hopeful and positive that the tide is going to change.