Rick Stein supports new NHS campaign to help Cornish patients with diabetes
The scheme offers expert advice along with healthy recipes from the celebrity chef's cookery school
Celebrity chef Rick Stein is supporting a new NHS campaign that helps people in east Cornwall manage their diabetes.
The Healthier Me Club has been created by Bodmin-based Dr Janine Riley from the Three Harbours and Bosvena Health surgeries to support a group of patients who are receiving help to manage their diabetes, and mental health.
The first group was carefully selected by the surgeries' GPs who they felt would benefit from this new eight week targeted approach of help.
The first group of people who have been chosen to join the club will receive one-to-one support from a range of local experts to manage their mental health, become more active, receive healthy eating advice and review any medication they’re taking to manage their conditions. They’ll also receive help from a closed Facebook group where it’s hoped the members will also support and encourage each other to achieve the targets they have each set at the start of the eight week course.
Rick Stein’s Cookery School will also provide a specially selected weekly healthy recipe for the group to cook on a Thursday, culminating in a live cook-along with 1 of its chefs at the end of the programme in May.
Famed chef Rick Stein said: “The thing that interests me is a lot of us often forget that we are what we eat, and the more healthily we eat, the more healthy we are – yes physically, but mentally as well. So I really do support this local project.”
The team at Rick Stein’s Cookery School have chosen 6 of Rick’s recipes to suit the group’s needs. Each dish is for a family of 4, to involve the whole household together. First and foremost in choosing, head chef lecturer Nick Evans wanted hearty, healthy and tasty meals. Also essential was for them to be quick, simple and affordable to make.
Nick has filmed step-by-step videos for the group to follow in a weekly cook-along. To mark their success come the end of the program, participants will be invited to join him in person at the Cookery School in Padstow, where they will make the final dish together.
Healthier Me Club is the brainchild of Dr Janine Riley, a partner at Stillmoor surgery in Bodmin, which is part of the Three Harbours and Bosvena Health primary care network. Speaking of her aspirations for the fledgling group, she said: “This project is very different to our historic model of doctor/patient management plans. It aims to engage our patients with a personalised program. We are creating a patient-led group that really supports and motivates its members.”
Jeremy Holder is one of those taking part in the Healthier Me Club. He said: “I need to be healthier for my diabetes. I know how to, but I’ve lost hope and motivation, especially during the past 2 years.
“I want this to help me back to my old healthier habits. I’m a good cook – I enjoy cooking – and I used to cycle. The central hub on Facebook will, I hope, make it easier to sustain change.”
The group will receive help from a diabetes nurse, mental health advisor, health and wellbeing coach, clinical pharmacist and social prescriber who will give dedicated, expert advice and guidance.
Participants will also have access to community support groups, as well as funded membership of Bodmin Leisure Centre.
Dr Janine Riley added: “This is an example of population health management in action. Put simply, that means using detailed data analysis to identify groups of patients with a shared set of criteria. It allows for a very targeted and tailored approach to healthcare – one that reflects both the current and future needs of those groups identified.
“This exciting new approach to healthcare brings a broader, far more proactive approach than the traditional route of waiting for a patient to raise their own health issue or concern. It is a notable contrast. The idea is that patients’ conditions are often over medicalised and that prevention or interventions like the Healthier Me Club can improve health outcomes without the need for medical treatments.
“We seized the opportunity to create and deliver this project. It enables us to act on our passion for improving the physical and psychological health of our practice populations. Best of all, instead of telling people to do this or take that, we are empowering them to make healthier choices for themselves, their family and friends. Then together, we will inspire and motivate others on the mission to greater health, happiness and wellbeing.”