Plan to expand membership of obesity group

Expansion of the membership of the obesity policy implementation oversight group (OPIOG), to include patient representatives, is being considered. 

Discussions were held last year regarding an expansion of membership of the OPIOG, but no such action has yet been taken. It was envisioned that an expansion would include the addition of service users and patient representatives. 

A Department of Health spokesperson told the Medical Independent that this plan had not as yet been progressed. “However, the issue of whether there will be additional representation on the group, and who might be included, will be considered at a future date”. 

The spokesperson added that the Department had recently received “a final draft” of the evaluation of the Obesity Policy and Action Plan (OPAP), which was conducted by the Centre for Health and Diet Research, University College Cork. 

This evaluation will “inform” an upcoming mid-term review of the OPAP. 

The review is said to provide the opportunity to “consider developments and new evidence since the publication of the OPAP, and to assess which elements might best be further progressed by legislation or by other means”. 

“It is intended that both the evaluation and the review will be published.” 

The Department also stated that the review of the OPAP will feed into the Government’s work on the proposed Public Health Obesity Bill. 

“The OPAP provides for a mid-term review to be carried out, which provides the opportunity to consider developments and new evidence since the publication of the OPAP, and to assess which elements might best be further progressed by legislation or by other means,” Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and National Drugs Strategy, Mr Frank Feighan, told the Dáil in late April.