Implementation of A Better Choice Healthy Food and Drink Supply Strategy for staff and visitors in government-owned health facilities in Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Objective: The present paper reports on a quality improvement activity examining implementation of A Better Choice Healthy Food and Drink Supply Strategy for Queensland Health Facilities (A Better Choice). A Better Choice is a policy to increase supply and promotion of healthy foods and drinks and decrease supply and promotion of energy-dense, nutrient-poor choices in all food supply areas including food outlets, staff dining rooms, vending machines, tea trolleys, coffee carts, leased premises, catering, fundraising, promotion and advertising. Design: An online survey targeted 278 facility managers to collect self-reported quantitative and qualitative data. Telephone interviews were sought concurrently with the twenty-five A Better Choice district contact officers to gather qualitative information. Setting: Public sector-owned and -operated health facilities in Queensland, Australia. Subjects: One hundred and thirty-four facility managers and twenty-four district contact officers participated with response rates of 48?2 % and 96?0 %, respectively. Results: Of facility managers, 78?4 % reported implementation of more than half of the A Better Choice requirements including 24?6 % who reported full strategy implementation. Reported implementation was highest in food outlets, staff dining rooms, tea trolleys, coffee carts, internal catering and drink vending machines. Reported implementation was more problematic in snack vending machines, external catering, leased premises and fundraising. Conclusions: Despite methodological challenges, the study suggests that policy approaches to improve the food and drink supply can be implemented successfully in public-sector health facilities, although results can be limited in some areas. A Better Choice may provide a model for improving food supply in other health and workplace settings. Keywords Food supply Hospitals Health centres Health facilities Obesity AustraliaAt the time of the present study (2009), Queensland Health provided a range of services for 4?33 million people through fifteen Health Service Districts across the state (1,2) . Queensland has an area of 1?73 million square kilometres, which makes it the second largest state in Australia and approximately seven times the size of Great Britain (3) . More than 50 % of Queensland's population lives in regional and remote areas outside the greater metropolitan area of Brisbane; it is the most decentralised state in Australia (3) . There were 67 947 full-time equivalent employees in Queensland Health, which represented approximately one-third of the Queensland public-sector workforce (4) .Queensland Health has a clear leadership role in promoting healthy lifestyles throughout the state and this is increasingly important with the rising prevalence of lifestyle-related chronic disease (5) . The most recent data in Queensland indicate that at least 16 % of the total disease burden is due to measurable risk factors with dietary determinants (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight and obesity, and low fru...

Population‐based interventions addressing food insecurity in Australia: A systematic scoping review

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Characteristics of Canteens at Elementary Schools, Upper Secondary Schools and Workplaces that Comply with Food Service Guidelines and Have a Greater Focus on Food Waste

“…There are few studies on compliance with food service guidelines in workplace canteens. A study by Miller et al found that 25% out of 278 Australian health facility managers providing food and drinks to staff, visitors and the general public reported full implementation of A Better Choice, that classifies foods and drinks into three colour-coded categories: “Green” (best choices), “Amber” (choose carefully) and “Red” (limit), in all food supply areas in which it applied [58].…”

Programmes, policies and implementation

“…Miller et al . report on the extent of implementation of a state-wide policy to improve food and drink supply in health facilities in Queensland, Australia ( 11 ) . The fourth study, by Bell et al ., is an intervention to encourage adoption of healthy eating policies and practices in child-care services in a region of New South Wales, Australia ( 12 ) .…”

“…Gregorič et al (9) present a well-considered evaluation of the implementation of Slovenian national dietary guidelines, describing the proportion of primary schools complying with the guidelines, which aspects of the guidelines were implemented, and characteristics of schools that were more or less successful in their implementation. Miller et al report on the extent of implementation of a state-wide policy to improve food and drink supply in health facilities in Queensland, Australia (11) . The fourth study, by Bell et al, is an intervention to encourage adoption of healthy eating policies and practices in child-care services in a region of New South Wales, Australia (12) .…”