How the Southwest Approach Forum is driving innovation for Children and Young People healthy weight

Focus areas:

Healthy weight

Locality:

Local

Teams:

Innovation adoption team

Overview

Strengthening the system through building a shared regional approach

In 2024, Health Innovation Wessex (HIW) launched the Southwest (SW) Children and Young People (CYP) Network—known as the SW Approach Forum—to speed up progress on healthy‑weight priorities across the region. The forum brought partners together to focus on prevention, share learning, and explore new and practical ways to support children, young people, and families. The forum quickly became a catalyst for system-wide innovation, bringing partners together to focus on prevention, knowledge mobilisation, shared learning, and exploring the art of the possible.

Through these sessions, partners identified the skills and confidence needed to embed innovative approaches in everyday practice. The forum ignited new collaborations, created space for curious and constructive conversations, and inspired collective problem‑solving. Crucially, it supported the emergence of shared system practices designed to sustain innovation and strengthen joined‑up working across the Southwest.

In Dorset, excess weight in childhood is a growing concern. Three in ten children aged 11 years are already overweight, and nationally forecasts suggest that around 40% of 11-year-olds will be overweight by 2040 if nothing is done. In 2023/24, one in five reception-age pupils were overweight or obese in Dorset, rising to nearly one in three pupils by Year six. Whilst this is similar (reception) and better (Year six) than the England average, this remains a significant number of children experiencing excess weight. The trend in Year six is consistently below the England average.

Excess weight in childhood is a complex problem with many contributing factors, including behaviour, environment, genetics and culture and is linked to serious long‑term physical and mental health issues impacting on their quality of life. The core challenge is prevention. Dorset needs a coordinated, holistic, community‑level and system-wide partnership approach that supports children, young people, and families earlier and more effectively.

What we did
HIW brought partners together around a shared regional approach for children and young people and healthy weight, agreeing clear principles and connecting local teams with national innovators. The forum also shared useful learning from other areas, and involved key leaders to keep the work moving. An innovation scan highlighted innovations for the network to explore alongside showcasing of innovations adopted within the SW.

Partners included: BCP Council, Dorset Council, Wiltshire Council, Cornwall Council, Plymouth City Council, Purbeck PCN, NHS Dorset, Wessex Health Partners, Active Dorset, Hampshire & Isle of Wight ICB, Health Innovation South West, Health Innovation West of England and NHSE South West

Across the SW, HIW set up and hosted a coordinated programme of activity that has strengthened the regional approach to healthy weight in children and young people.

The forum has:

Created a shared foundation for action by developing and agreeing SW principles for the prevention of unhealthy weight in CYP—providing clarity, alignment, and a common direction across all partners.
Connected innovators with the system by brokering introductions between local teams, national innovators, and wider system partners, accelerating access to new thinking, tools, and approaches.
Mobilised best practice and learning through structured sharing of evidence, models, and insights from other regions and systems, ensuring partners can build on what works rather than starting from scratch.
Strengthened system engagement by proactively involving key leads, stakeholders, and decision-makers from across the SW, supporting collaborative ownership and driving consistent momentum.

A HIW innovation scan surfaced emerging tools, research, and promising innovations focused on CYP and healthy weight—creating a clear view of what is possible and where to act next.

Impact of innovation

Impact on Innovation Adoption. The forum has acted as a vehicle for introducing & adopting five digital innovations listed below into Purbeck Integrated Neighbourhood Team (INT) from a HIW Children & Healthy Weight 2024 innovation scan establishing a neighbourhood pathway for other INTs to replicate ensuring a wide and inclusive reach. This collaborative infrastructure directly enabled the adoption of five CYP digital innovations into the Purbeck Integrated Neighbourhood Team:

Impact on Day‑to‑Day Practice. Members rated the forum’s immediate value and its influence on adopting new ideas as 4 out of 5, demonstrating strong practical benefit and relevance to their everyday work.

Impact on Workforce Confidence and Capability. The forum has supported teams to explore new approaches with greater confidence, with members planning to take forward shared learning, tools, and insights into their future work.

Impact on Regional Collaboration. The SW Approach Forum has emerged as a powerful catalyst for strengthening healthy weight priorities and accelerating innovation across the SW.

Impact on System Connectivity and Shared Understanding. Across 11 forum sessions over two years, partners have built deeper relationships, improved visibility of regional initiatives, and developed a stronger, more aligned understanding of activity across organisational boundaries.

Impact on Member Experience and Learning. The greatest impact for members came from the meaningful connections and shared learning developed through the forum. Participants particularly valued the peer support & knowledge, increased awareness of system activity and innovation, and the introduction to practical tools such as innovation scans, which enhanced their understanding of emerging opportunities and approaches.

Health and care system success

The forum has played a key role in surfacing, validating, and introducing practical innovations across the system. It directly enabled the adoption of five digital tools into the Dorset system, creating new, cost‑effective ways to support healthy weight and wellbeing. By giving teams access to innovation scans and emerging research, the forum has helped the system understand future opportunities and move towards more proactive, preventative, tech‑enabled models of care.

A strong peer‑to‑peer learning culture has supported collective problem‑solving, rapid sharing of insights, and continuous improvement in practice. This has strengthened resilience and boosted workforce capability across the region.

By enabling early‑intervention tools through social prescribers, VCSE partners, and local community offers, the forum has supported a shift towards prevention and community‑based support. This approach helps reduce long‑term pressure on clinical services while upskilling volunteers and the wider workforce.

Through the integration of five CYP digital innovations within PCNs and neighbourhood teams, partners are enabling earlier intervention, reducing demand on clinical services, and supporting behaviour change at low marginal cost. Early work in Purbeck shows clear potential for cost‑effective, scalable innovation that improves access to resources and reduces long‑term system pressures.

Overall, the SW Approach Forum provides a low‑cost, high‑impact model that can be replicated across local areas and aligns with national priorities for prevention, primary care sustainability, and digital enablement.

Meet our Innovation adoption team

How can we help you?

If you’d like to get in touch please
email enquiries@hiwessex.net