New Measures to Tackle Childhood Weight Issues in Scarborough and Whitby

Wednesday, 14 June 2023 06:00

By Matthew Pells

Childhood Obesity on the Yorkshire Coast is being tackled through a new Early Years Weight Management Group.

Parents of some Early years children in Scarborough and Whitby are being offered support with managing their child's weight.

It's part of a pilot programme being used to tackle an increasing national issue with child obesity.

Figures show 24 percent of reception age children in Scarborough are overweight.

Emma Lonsdale from the North Yorkshire Healthy Child service says the hope is that catching problems early on will help reduce later health problems.

The pilot project aims to help families of younger children take action sooner to address any weight issues.

Emma Lonsdale says the latest data shows the scale of the problem in the Scarborough and Whitby areas.

Across England 22.3 percent of children entering a school reception class at age 4 or 5 are classed as either overweight or very overweight, the figure for North Yorkshire is slightly higher at 23.3% and for the Scarborough area it is higher still at 24%, that represents 214 children.

By Year 6, when the children will be 10-11 years old, those figures increase to 37.8% across England, 34.4% in North Yorkshire and 39.1% in Scarborough which is 377 youngsters.

The hope is that the Weight Management Group pilot will be able to help families make changes earlier in a child's life to reduce the likelihood of a child becoming overweight.

There is more information about Children's Weight at https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/childrens-weight/ and further information about support in North Yorkshire at https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/services/childrens-services/5-19-ny/