Cambridge Health and Weight Plan Case Study

Client Profile and Issue

The Cambridge Health and Weight Plan (CHWP) provides a range of weight management programmes, including Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCD), Low Calorie Diets (LCD) and conventional food programmes, which operate within primary and secondary care environments as well as the wider community through the commercial weight loss sector.

With more and more people categorised as overweight and obese in the UK, Cambridge wanted to ensure that Government initiatives designed to tackle the problem were all encompassing and that different solutions for different people are readily available. Cambridge also wanted to ensure that VLCDs were referenced accurately in all the Government documents and that any legislation in the area of VLCDs is appropriate and proportionate.

Our Strategy

The Whitehouse Consultancy has been working with Cambridge to raise their profile both in the UK and in Europe and ensured that they have had the opportunity to feed into all relevant Government consultation exercises including the consultation of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence Guidelines on Obesity.

The Whitehouse Consultancy has also been liaising with MEPs in Brussels to lobby for favourable amendments to the proposed EU Regulation on Nutrition and Health Claims which would potentially prohibition any claims making reference to the rate of weight loss claims.

Outcome

As a result of the targeted public affairs strategy, Cambridge is now acknowledged as a source of expertise in the field of weight management and has an on-going dialogue with all the key decision makers both in the EU and in the UK.

The Whitehouse Consultancy successfully ensured that key amendments to the Nutrition and Health Claims legislation were voted through in the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee of the European Parliament thereby significantly improving the proposed legislation.