21/01/2013 Inside Out East

One in three children are overweight or obese. We visit a

successful scheme in Bedfordshire helping children lose weight and

ask why so few families are taking up the offer. The reason it's

frustrating is because we have a great product and families are love

it and get so much out of it. We cannot get them through the door.

In 10 weeks in the NHS undergoes its biggest overhaul. This is what

the biggest shake-up in the NHS is about, giving local doctors, nurses

and patients the chance to call the shots and shop around. And goodbye

to a great British brand that dressed screen idols and political

leaders for over 100 years. didn't just reach a target, we

exceeded by 500 units. We have done it, we have turned the factory

around through hard work. That's what we did. And we didn't even get

paid for it. How stupid were we? Tonight Inside Out is in Bedford.

Hello, we are focusing on health with a special look forward to what

the new NHS means us. First, obesity is costing the NHS more

than �4 billion a year and more and more children are overweight or

obese. I joined families on a scheme in bed that proving

successful with him people but I wanted to find out why so few are

taking up the offer of a place. This is the family from Bedford,

Nunn and the 11-year-old are taking part in a health awareness course

to help those who are overweight. They are grabbing a quick meal

before the next session. I know tonight you are in a rash making

sandwiches but what would you normally have been evening? On a

working day, I tend to make sure I cook rice in the mornings so when

they come back they don't have to eat late. They have a source

consisting of tomato, onion, red pepper and chilli pepper. Although

the family try to eat well, she admits she snacks on a less healthy

food like biscuits and crisps. get home before me. Instead of

warming up ready meals, they snack a lot. You are going for the snacks.

Mum and dad aren't here. You go for the biscuits. Sometimes, yes.

most of the time. And when you have it, is it an easy food, is that why

you go for it? Yes, you don't have to sit down and make it. What does

your mum say it if she knows he's been snacking? She doesn't know!

you keep this quiet. We have spilled the beans. A family secret.

Weight problems cost the NHS �4 billion a year. Official figures

for children are depressing. Over a third of 10 and 11 year-olds are

overweight or obese. You see them walking down the High Street. You

think to yourself... There a special weight awareness services

target at families. The courses aim to get people to change what we eat

and to lead a healthy lifestyle. Stewart runs the programme. Who is

a course aimed at? Tonight it is about 7 to 11 year-olds and their

families who are overweight. We will be doing nutrition stuff and

healthy eating pizzas. We will play tennis with them and then some a

parent only sessions where I was Ben sessions with the parents.

do we need to deal with obesity? Really there's the of the is issue

of the cost to the NHS and that needs addressing because there are

issues with the financial state of the NHS but more importantly his

experiences of the families, there are lots of astigmatism with weight.

We want to help people be happy and healthy. We would have a great

session tonight. Part of the course is teaching children how to make

healthy pizza, all of the youngsters have been sent along by

a GP or school nurse. It's the same price as a normal cheese. It has

30% less fat. That will make them more healthy and normal pigs.

Children are weighed when they start school meaning they are

accurate figures on obesity. The problem is of the 10,000 overweight

youngsters in bed picture, eligible for the courses, less than 1% take

up the offer of a place. You are running the course to help people

but there's a low take-up. Hardly anyone is coming. It is quite

frustrating. There's a lot of effort that goes into getting the

courses up and running, funding and the organisation and recruiting the

families. The reason it's frustrating is because it's a great

products at when families can be Levett and get so much out of it.

We cannot get them in the door. It's a similar story across the

region. The take up for courses like this is low. If it is there to

be straight for to identify those weight problems why are so people

taking advantage of the help on offer? I have come to meet Craig, a

public health manager from the NHS to find out why. I don't think the

take-up is worse here than anywhere else in the countries. Some of the

programmes get high levels of take up but particularly in some areas

we have a low uptake of children going on the course. There are two

main reasons. Most parents of obese children can't recognise that

children are obese. And the other reason is the stigma attached to

say my child is a piece can you help? Certain aspects of the media

help? Certain aspects of the media portray obesity as due to laziness,

gluttony and parents are labelled as being bad parents and abusive in

the media if children are obese. To say my child is a piece and can you

help me is a huge step to ask parents to take. But for just spent

�270,000 a year on obesity prevention programmes. All families

with a which children are contacted at invited to join the cause. GPs

are given training in how best to encourage families to take part.

Girls, are you going to make these at home? Yes. If you only get 1%

take up, are you failing in your job? No, because there is the

uptake and the outcome. The outcome has been improving year on year. If

you look at the national programme results this year we have seen a

further reduction in Bedfordshire so less people, less children who

are obese. That's positive and we are better than the East of England

and the average. It works better closer to capacity because people

have more fun. We need to encourage more peep to come through the

programmes and in some areas the uptake is really good. In these

certain areas it is more challenging for us so we put more

Back at the course the low-fat pizzas have been eaten and it's

time to burn off some calories with the encouragement of some sporting

activities. We are offering what people need and enjoy it. If it

wasn't what people wanted, they would not stay. The retention rate

is 90%. The difficulty is there's a massive stigma attached to this

area in the country and so we are not getting people coming onto the

programme because there are so many things but they are worried about

regarding their friends jejunum, what families think about them

coming. I think we are offering a great products at unconfident. I do

know how to crack the problem of getting people here. It's estimated

weight problems cost the health economy around �110 million a year.

Costs include buying larger desks in schools, and even bigger

ambulances. That's why initiatives like this are seen as being so

vital. It has been six weeks since I last saw this family. I was keen

to find out if things had changed since starting on the course. Are

you seeing a change in the way your family eats? Yes, I have.

Especially her, she is eating healthy. When she comes back from

school now she stops snacking on biscuits and sweets. I am sorry to

say this but the belief or? Yes. You have changed. She would tell me.

Most of the time. Don't laugh! It's always great to hear from you

say if the something you sheet -- you think we should be covering,

sent me an e-mail. You are watching Inside Out and still to come, and

Chris Hughton's company made coats the Church of. Is this the end of

the brand? It resonates tradition, prestige, a fantastic cachet. It's

up alongside Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin.

The National Health Service has been going for 65 years. Very soon

in the NHS is going through its biggest reorganisation in its

history. What does it mean for us in the East? We asked a TV doctor

This is lovely, madam, because this inhaler would actually go with your

coat. And a free examination. Do you want to come here and cough,

sir? I can give you those half price. Plus something for your

water retention. I'm a GP. And today I'm taking

healthcare into the community, where it's needed. All the sample

bottles you could ever need and I'll throw in a crutch. It's all

free. It's all paid for. This is what the biggest shake-up

in the history of the NHS is all about - giving local doctors,

nurses and patients the chance to call the shots and shop around for

the best care. At least that's the Government's plan. But many doctors

think the reforms are untested, expensive and over-complicated - a

view I shared with the former health secretary Andrew Lansley.

The difficulty with this is that it's 353 pages of wonk. It's

absolutely impossible to understand it. I choose my words carefully. It

is unreadable. What did you actually say? It's wonky. But I've

been wading through the jargon, and it's clear the reforms will affect

us all. It's vital we put politics aside and try to understand exactly

what they'll mean for patients. Until now the NHS has been like a

big supermarket chain that only sells its own brands. It's a one-

stop shop where all the tricky decisions are made for you. In

theory, you should get the same high quality care whether you live

in Scunthorpe or Southend. But like any monopoly, it's far from perfect.

The Government's bringing in the market place model instead -

introducing more choice and competition, and putting GPs in

charge instead of civil servants. But will it work? So if I just

check your eyes there. I can confirm you have two eyes.

We're doing two X-rays for the price of one. And I can throw in a

free brain scan if you like. One change we're told patients

should notice is care much closer to home. Hospitals and GPs will

have more freedom to bring in innovative ideas. Technology might

monitor your health at home and routine surgery could be done at

high street clinics. Hospitals in Gloucestershire have

already teamed up with a charity to send this mobile chemotherapy unit

into rural communities. For cancer patients like Graham Freeman, it's

a lifeline. The concept is great, moving the treatment to the person.

Because it is a bit of a trauma, suffering from the chemotherapy and

the travelling. Bringing the treatment closer to the person is a

lot better. You do feel a little bit better. But could this shift

towards more localised care mean hospitals will have to close? To

find out, I've come to London, to one of the world's most respected

independent think tanks on health policy - the King's Fund. I don't

think we'll see many hospitals closing as a result of care coming

closer to home. It will mean hospitals changing their roles,

perhaps fewer A&E departments, fewer maternity services provided

in existing hospitals. But that could be to the benefit of patients

if we're able to plan that in the appropriate way and get better

outcomes by concentrating those services in fewer hospitals. You

might not be keen, though, if it's your A&E that's closing. The second

thing patients should notice is more choice. Three tomatoes for �1!

Anybody? Three inhalers for the price of two. Come and get them!

Two caulies, �1.50 over there! We've got a separate queue here for

six symptoms or less. Competition in the NHS isn't new, but the

reforms step it up a notch. The NHS will become a marketplace, with

private companies competing with the NHS for business. So when your

GP says you need a scan, your options may look less like this,

and more like this. But it should be quality, not price, that will

decide which are allowed to offer care.

It's already happening here on the high street, where Specsavers are

treating NHS patients in 218 of its hearing centres. When I came to

Specsavers, they do private and NHS, which I find is better than going

to the hospital. You know you go to the hospital, there's a lot of

travelling and I don't think you get such a personal attention. So

this is much, much better. The plan is for patients like Doreen to

choose their provider by looking at new performance league tables. But

companies must play by the rules and can't encourage NHS patients to

go private. Ultimately, Specsavers want to

protect the NHS work that we've managed to gain here and we don't

want to do anything to try and jeopardise that. We're not going to

try and sell a hearing aid, upsell a patient at all during that time.

More competition could drive up standards and lower costs. But if

profits slip, companies could pull out or even go under, leaving

patients in the lurch. Remember the collapse of Northern Rock? Imagine

if its customers had been queuing not for their life savings but for

life-saving surgery. If there is going to be a bigger role for

private companies in delivering care to patients, then there is

always a possibility, however remote, that that company will not

be successful, that we will see something like Northern Rock in

healthcare. The Government's anticipating that. It's putting in

place what's called a "failure regime" so that the regulator can

intervene and ensure continuity of services even if the organisations

are not providing care to the right standard. The third thing patients

may notice is a shift in their relationship with their GP. So if I

said, "Trust me, I know the best place to go to get your heart

surgery." Would you say, "Yeah, you're the doctor. Dr Phil, you

look like a ginger George Clooney. I love, I trust you."?

Since the birth of the NHS, doctors have taken the trust of patients

for granted. But as GPs offer more and more treatments, they could

find themselves referring patients to their own services. Add private

companies into the mix and there's real scope for a conflict of

interest. So just open really wide. Say "ahh." Ahh. That's great, thank

you. But should we really be worried? In Bath, Jasmine Bishop is

seeing a GP on the NHS. But believe it or not, he actually works for

Virgin. Yup - they of planes, trains and super-fast broadband

fame also run this walk-in centre, along with 170 other NHS services.

Although you wouldn't know it from the branding. As Virgin takes over

more of the NHS, what's to stop you referring patients on to another

Virgin service to make money for the company, rather than in the

best interests of the patient? of our GPs, like any GP in the

country, have to offer patients a choice when they're being referred

for another service. So in the end, it's down to the patient to choose

where they go. And of course, GPs and other clinical staff have a

professional responsibility too to make sure that they're finding the

best care for their patients. That doesn't differ because those GPs

are employed by us. And you have to ask if patients really mind who

provides their care. Did you know that this health centre was run by

Virgin? No. Would it make any difference to you as a patient

whether it's run by an ordinary NHS GP or a private company? No. So all

that matters to you is what? What do you care about in your

treatment? That I get the best treatment I possibly can get really.

Which of these sample bottles would you like, madam? We've got three on

choice today. The bottom line is that if you have

a good idea to improve your care, tell your GP. If he or she can make

it happen, we know the reforms are working. It's been a huge upheaval

just to get the NHS to listen to patients. And I hope for all our

sakes it works. I can't lug all this back again.

Come on, it's got to go today. Last chance!

Aquascutum is a British classic but like many traditional brands it's

faced tough times and competition from overseas. They've had a base

in Northampton hire for 100 years and the employees weren't going to

let the factory going without a Aquascutum is a British classic. It

protected the public from showery weather for 160 years. But then in

April last year, it went into administration.

Workers returned to the Aquascutum factory in Corby after the Easter

break to be told the bad news. The fashion label was shutting the door

on its 100-year history in the County for good, and staff were

told there was no money to pay their wages. Debbie and her

daughter, Sarah, were both sewing machinists there. Debbie had worked

at the factory for over 30 years and was a shop steward. I went in

and had a meeting with the administrators. You know, he was a

nice man. He sat there and he told us that - the financial state that

Aquascutum were in. They had been brought in and that basically they

had no alternative but to make everyone redundant. Overnight, 115

workers were left without jobs. Aquascutum was started in the 19th

century by John Emery after he invented a way of water-proofing

wool. The British Government commissioned the company to design

an outer garment for officers in the World War I. The trenchcoat.

The first factory was set up in Kettering and later established in

Corby. The company went on to dress royalty, screen adolls and

political leaders. Its collection last year had also been well

received. You get garments that were very intricate, a lot of

detail on them. You did have to have a good ability to do that type

of work. It was very intricate tan still is, even today. And some of

the trenchcoats would you be able to - you would have to put them

down and it would stand up on their own, they had that much padding in

them and wadding and stuff like that. We were the jewel in the

Crown. You know, and they treated us as if we were. They really did.

The company had had problems in the past, but Debbie had been reassured

by management that the factory was doing well.

We had to get 1900 units out that year. We didn't only reach our

target, we exceeded it by 500 units. Everybody worked so hard to do it

and when it was announced, because we had Friday meetings, and when it

was announced people cheered. It was like wow, God, you know we have

done it. We turned this factory around and done it by hard work.

That's what we did. And we didn't even get paid for it. You know, how

stupid were we? The company had lost millions of pounds in trading

and the staff had no idea. I made people - I made people believe in

that promise... Because they trusted me. But then in May last

year, there was hope that Aquascutum could have another

British owner and the clothes could still be made in Corby. How are we

doing, are we winning? James Eden, whose factory is in Manchester,

believed he could turn it around. think the whole industry from

factory owners to machinists who have - cloth suppliers have all

followed the Aquascutum saga extremely closely and to see that

company and that brand go under and see their factory close it's a huge

shock. They have vested interest in the Aquascutum brand. They want

British products. Want to be making British products to the

international market and so they see its decline and ultimate demise

as a potential threat to their future employment.

The labels are coming from Japan... Aquascutum resonated tradition,

prestige, it had a fantastic cache, alongside Rolls Royce, Aston Martin,

it oozed quality and sophistication. It was indecently British. James

Eden visited the workers at Corby and made a bid. When I had the

meeting with James Eden, you know, he came across as a really, really

genuine guy and he was so enthusiastic about the factory. He

loved it. He just thought it's fantastic. There's work just

sitting around needing doing! I went, that's just it, that's how

brutal it was, our work was just left. He went, oh, my God, it's

just a fantastic factory. He really wants it, he wants the skill. He

wants us all back. You know, he had so much enthusiasm. He says we have

loads of work, but people want in - - people want made in Britain. I

says, that's exactly what we are. But the day we went to film with

him, James Eden was told that a Chinese company had bid more.

Aquascutum was sold to them but it didn't want the Corby factory.

had been successful I would have guaranteed the survival of the

factory and the employment there and it would have continued

manufacturing as many Aquascutum Great Yarmouths in the UK as --

garments in the UK as possible. As a 28-year-old entrepreneur who is

dedicating millions of pounds and basically all the hours and energy

that he has to UK manufacturing, it was an extremely disappointing lost

opportunity. I have the youth, the vigour and ambition to take on a

factory like Corby. Aquascutum is now a Chinese brand, owned by the

Chinese, making I suspect will be Chinese products for a Chinese

marketplace at the expense of an English workforce. It's very

disappointing and very sad. factory's fate was undecided. We

went back in the autumn and work was left out on benches untouched.

The plant and its machinery were going to be auctioned. But a luxury

goods company agreed to rent the factory. The new operator hoped to

produce some of their goods there. They also agreed to finish off 1700

coats for Aquascutum's new Chinese owners which had been left

unfinished when the factory shut in April. They took on 34 machinists

to do the work, but it was only temporary. Aquascutum is now

British by name only. It won't be Aquascutum, will it? That's how I

feel. You take it abroad and it just becomes another high street

brand that's made somewhere abroad that is not British. And that is

what Aquascutum stands for. Debbie and her daughter applied for jobs

after being laid off. Why don't we put trainee machinist, because you

were training, weren't you? Put that in. Sarah is still unemployed,

but Debbie has found work as a driver. Last month, they both

received compensation along with 103 other workers.

That's it, thanks for joining thus week. If you want to sent me a

tweet or any stories, you can e- mail me. Stay warm. I will see you

next week and I will be back with these stories.

Meet the fish wives singing to help people after losing a loved one.

Lots of people in the choir have lost men at sea so there's a strong