News in brief 2

An Early Day Motion in support of Sustain’s Children’s Food Bill had support from 57 cross-party MPs by the end of May. Sustain says that the bill, which is currently supported by 114 national organisations, will prevent childhood obesity and other food-related disorders through a range of measures including legislation to protect children from junk food marketing and setting strict standards for school meals.

www.sustainweb.org/ childrensfoodbill

Health centres, GP surgeries and other primary care premises being built through the LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) initiative may fail to meet sustainable development objectives, a review has found.

As an absolute minimum LIFT projects should adhere to the NHS Environmental Assessment Tool, according to chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission Jonathon Porrit.

The Sustainable Development Commission and the NHS Alliance jointly commissioned a review of LIFT projects in three areas of the country. It found that community views and concerns are not always translated into design briefs, opportunities for service re-design and flexible multi-use of space are overlooked and environment assessment tools are not being used.

www.nhsalliance.org
www.sd-commission.gov.uk

The Department of Health has allocated £5m to the nine primary care trusts running pilots of the United Healthcare/Evercare model of care management for the at-risk elderly.

Teams from Evercare in the US fly in to provide support to the PCTs involved. The cost of the programme were revealed in a Parliamentary written reply.

Ann McGuaran