Affordable Healthy Food in Middlesbrough
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Increasing accessibility of affordable healthy food to adults living with Severe Mental Illness in Middlesbrough
IRAS ID
328144
Contact name
Joe Dunne
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Aim
We want to support people who have a mental illness to be able to eat well. A mental health NHS Trust, a university, a community organisation, and people who have Severe Mental Illness (SMI) will try out a new way of working to make different healthy meals and find out which ones their peers like best.Background
Over 57,000 people in Middlesbrough are at risk of food insecurity. SMI can increase risk of diseases like heart disease or diabetes, meaning people may die 15-20 years earlier than people without SMI. There is a lot of high-quality leftover (surplus) food in the UK food industry - approximately 2 million tonnes are wasted every year. About one third is fruit and vegetables and we will use some of this surplus food to improve diets.Patient and public involvement
Five people living with SMI will work with Healthy Cooking Workers and NHS staff to create recipes they think are suitable for other people with SMI. Lots of people will be asked which ones they like, and everybody’s favourite will be made into Ready Meals at Teesside University’s food laboratory. It will be distributed to social supermarkets in Middlesbrough. Two people with SMI will be on a steering group that will oversee our project.Dissemination and anticipated outcomes
Teesside University academics will assess the success of this project, how diets of people with SMI are improved, how well the organisations worked together, and if the Ready Meal is suitable for Social Supermarket customers. These findings will be shared in blogs, research articles and newsletters. It will be used to develop a larger funding application to help vulnerable people access healthy, affordable food.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NE/0126
Date of REC Opinion
15 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion