1. Title of the Change Project
Student ID.
MSc in Healthcare Management,
Institute of Leadership, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
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IMPLEMENTING THE HSE CALORIE POSTING POLICY WITH CATERING PROVIDERS
Sarah McCormack, MSc in Leadership
Abstract
Calorie posting is a behaviour change intervention adopted in the fight against obesity. In 2014 the HSE commenced the development of a Policy on Calorie Posting. This project implemented calorie posting in two HSE canteens working with a large scale external catering provider. The scope of this project was not to determine should calorie posting be implemented but rather to implement and make recommendations for the development of the policy and inform the national HSE implementation. The literature was reviewed to assess the effectiveness of calorie posting and to identify the most effective manner of implementing. The implementation of calorie posting provides an ideal opportunity for the HSE to lead by example in developing a healthy workplace environment, while delivering a healthy message not alone to approximately 100,000 staff who avail of these services but to the many millions of people who also visit these settings as visitors or outpatients. The project delivered a very successful implementation and identified recommendations to support the full implementation in the HSE. 49% of staff indicated that calorie posting had caused them to make a change when selecting their food and beverages. This project demonstrated that calorie posting is more than a technical project and can achieve behaviour change to reduce obesity and can therefore be referred to as a behaviour change project that should focus on the people aspect of change and include a “calorie” awareness information campaign.

2. Introduction & Background Organisational Impact
IMPLEMENTING THE HSE CALORIE POSTING POLICY WITH CATERING PROVIDERS
Sarah McCormack, MSc in Leadership
Introduction & Background
Methodology
Evaluation
Healthy Ireland1. aims to create a healthy environment making the healthy choice the easy choice
Why Calorie Posting in the HSE?
The WHO described obesity as a global epidemic 2 that can be reduced significantly by changing lifestyle behaviour.
Calorie Posting is:
An evidence based
intervention to reduce
Obesity
Achieves small individual changes 6% - 21% over large populations
A form of food labelling regulated by the FSAI.
Works on the principle
that informed consumers will make healthier choices.
95% of people in Ireland want calorie posting.
The project used the HSE Change model.
The disciplined approach of the Change Model supported the achievement of implementation in a very tight time scale
Calorie Posting was implemented in two sites with external catering provider
Staff survey shows 34% have switched to a more healthy option and 75% want more information
Figure 1: HSE Change Model 5
Organisational Impact
Initiation:
Scope agreed for project to focus on 2 external catering sites.
Stakeholder analysis informed the development of the communication plan
SWOT: Strengths - HI Framework. Weakness - Short timescale and no additional resources
Implementation of calorie posting
is a technical and behaviour change project
A phased implementation approach with Quick Wins is recommended
Implementing other behaviour change initiatives will make calorie posting more effective
Couple the implementation with a good communication plan
Planning
A four phased implementation
adopted
A Working Group and two Expert Groups were established:
Aims & Objectives
Aim: To implement the HSE Policy on Calorie Posting in canteens working with external catering providers.
Objectives: To identify and display the calorie count of the food and beverages on sale in two canteens
To develop national communication materials and change behaviour messages
To create consumer awareness on calorie posting for behaviour change
To develop a set of recommendations to inform future implementations in the HSE
Conclusion
Implementation:
The FSAI Menucal tool used to identify calorie count.
Communication materials developed e.g. Banners & Posters
The HSE is now leading by example empowering people to make a healthier choice
A good initiative capitalising on the many millions of staff and visitors using the catering facilities
Creating a healthy environment to make the healthy choice the easy choice
Mainstreaming
Pre and Post Go Live staff surveys undertaken
Go Live Awareness Staff events held
Banners, Posters and SWAP cards on display inform consumers to make the healthy choice
References
1. Department of Health, Healthy Ireland; A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing
2. WHHO Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. World Health Organization Technical Report Series.