NHS England prepares for sugar tax with ban on unhealthy food adverts
Trusts bidding for money to help staff adopt healthier lifestyles must submit information on fast-food franchises, vending machines and other retail outlets on their sites, in a move that will help finalise the implementation of the tax from April 2017.
Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, who revealed his plan for a sugar tax to the Guardian in January, has announced £600m of strings-attached funding, about 1% of the money budgeted for commissioning services from hospitals and other trusts, to help pay for the initiative.
The package includes schemes to increase the number of staff walking and cycling to work, and provide more opportunities for other physical activity, including team sports, fitness classes and running clubs.
Fast-track access to physiotherapy services and mental health initiatives, including stress management, mindfulness courses, counselling and mental health first aid, are also on the agenda.
Trusts have been told that they must do more to ensure that staff have the winter flu vaccine in order to protect vulnerable patients and reduce staff sickness. Currently the take-up rate is poor, with 50% of NHS workers inoculated each year. The target is closer to 75%.
The initiative, which will not involve GP practices, comes amid increasing doubts that the government will introduce a sugar tax on retailers elsewhere and further delays to a planned strategy on reducing childhood obesity.
Stevens said it was time for the NHS in England, which employs 1.3 million people, “to practise what it preaches” and cut the £2.4bn-a-year cost of staff absences.
