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Following a collaboration on behalf of NHS London, Department of Health and London Health Programmes, the use of technical intervention relating to obesity will now be addressed.

Here are more details:

The Department of Health, NHS London and London Health Programmes are collaborating to launch a £2m SBRI competition to support the development of powerful technologies to impact on personal behaviour change.

Specifically we are looking for technological solutions that can help change behaviour in order to reduce the impact of obesity and alcohol related diseases.

We are looking for ideas that will enable behaviour change in everyday life. The technology must be easy to use and whilst it may at first seem novel, it will be designed with the aim of merging seamlessly into everyday life. All applications will also need to demonstrate how the technology would fit into the lives of busy Londoners - or other urban dwellers across England.

Entries will be selected in an open competition process, which is expected to run in two phases. Several projects, of up to six months, will be funded in Phase 1, (feasibility phase). Successful projects, of up to two years, will then be funded in Phase 2 (prototype development phase). There is total funding available of up to £2m.

In Phase 1, we expect to select 8-12 projects with a total sum of funding available of up to £800,000. The Department of Health is the funding organisation; NHS London will manage the competition process and London Health Programmes can offer guidance to successful applicants and provide links to healthcare organisations that serve London.

To tender for the funding, please visit- www.london.nhs.uk/webfiles/Innovation%20...on%20to%20tender.pdf

Are you currently working on technology to assist in behaviour change and improve the health of others? Do you currently have a product which is enabling communities and individuals to improve their health?

If so, why not tell us below about it or if you are working in a local authority, charity or community, why not tell us what you are doing to improve the health of your colleagues, friends or community members?

'Worcestershire Works Well (WWW), is an accredited initiative designed to enable local employers in the area to improve the health and well being of their work force. Most adults spend a substantial proportion of their daily lives in the workplace, employers can play a valuable role in helping to improve their health and well being. Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) is one of the partners involved in delivery of WWW, and the scheme is also being offered to WRS employees. One of the 9 key standards of the program is 'healthy eating', and employers need to create a workplace environment which encourages staff to incorporate healthy eating into their daily routine, this may be achieved by a range of activities for example signposting, offering healthy snacks during meeting, recipe cards and weight management sessions'.

Get walking! Local council walking coordinators facilitate a wide range of walks and often we are missing out on collaborating with what is already actually available. Staff at Furness General Hospital were able to organize an event for Falls Awareness Week which included a lunchtime walk. The local council walk leader was more than happy to take on the responsibility of planning a route and providing a risk assessment. Advertisement for the full event included promoting the walk and staff who attended reported that they felt invigorated and refreshed for the afternoon. In order to create regular sustainable walks, the hospital intranet and weekly news emails need to be utilized to survey and find out when would be most suitable for staff to attend the council led walk. This could also be used to create incentives to continue walking, e.g. competitions between departments who has walked the most total miles.