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Barnsley Change4Life weight management service

Helping local people in Barnsley make lifestyle changes to lose weight and keep it off!

The Barnsley Change4Life weight management service provides information, advice and free NHS treatment programmes for people registered with a Barnsley GP who would like to lose weight.

Barnsley Change4Life which is a service delivered by the Trust in partnership with Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Barnsley Premier Leisure, Active Barnsley and MEND offers programmes and advice specifically to children and families, adults and pregnant women to make healthy changes to their lifestyle.

Adult programme

If you are aged 18 or over and have a BMI over 30, then you can join the adult treatment programme for help to make changes to your lifestyle and lose weight. You can be referred by your GP or practice nurse or you can ring up and refer yourself.

After referral, the team will get in touch with you to arrange a pre-assessment appointment with a healthy lifestyle advisor who will discuss what support is available and how the programme is run.

Participants on the programme are then invited to attend eight group sessions, led by NHS trained healthy lifestyle advisors and delivered in local centres across the area, in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Each session will cover a new topic including looking at regular eating habits, portion size, activity, reading labels and managing overeating. The sessions aim to help you make long term lifestyle changes that will help you to lose weight and the team will support you to identify and make the changes you need to.

If you need more support, a team of specialists including dietitians, a physiotherapist and a specialist consultant are also available. They can also provide information about weight loss medication and surgery.

Adult service referral form (DOC, 185KB)

Pregnant women programme

If you have a BMI over 30 at the start of your pregnancy then you can be referred to the team for advice and support. The treatment programme for pregnant women does not involve dieting or weight loss, rather women will be able to discuss how they can avoid excessive weight gain and make sure the growing baby gets everything they need to grow and develop.

The dietitian will support women to work out what changes they need to make to their lifestyle and how they will make these. The sessions aim to ensure that the mother will be able to meet the nutritional needs of her baby and put in place good habits to ensure long term weight management is possible.

After the baby has been born, the team may refer the woman to the adult treatment programme.

Pregnant women referral form (DOCF, 183KB)

Children and young people

Any child between 2-4 years can be referred regardless of their weight or BMI. For children between 5 -17 years they can be referred if they have a BMI above 91st centile.

Once a referral has been made, the team will contact the child’s family to discuss the most appropriate programme for them to attend. This may involve joining the MEND programme, having a session with a paediatric obesity consultant and dietitian or 1:1 appointments with a specialist dietitian for those aged 14 – 17 years.

The MEND programme (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition ..Do it!) is an evidence based obesity prevention and treatment programme that includes fun activities to help families find out about healthy eating, portion control, label reading and suggest practical strategies to help increase physical activity.

Different groups are run for children depending on their age and are designed to include age appropriate, fun activities around healthy eating, physical activity and behaviour change.

The groups aim to help children achieve and maintain a healthy BMI by improving eating habits, increasing physical activity levels and boosting self esteem.

Child referral form (DOC, 164KB)

How can if find out more?

Call the team on 01226 737060 for more information about the treatment programmes and support available for those who do not meet the criteria set out above.

The team are also developing a weight management training programme for health professionals. Get in touch with them to find out more.