Boost For HFI Protocol Following GP Video

Viridian Nutrition has continued its mission to partner the UK’s GPs with their local health food stores. And in response, health food stores are signing up to the Health Food Institute’s retailer protocol to add weight to their professional status.

A video made by the College of Medicine and ITN Productions, released in November, gives a siren call to GPs that they should point patients to independent health food stores in the interests of healthy nutrition.

Almost 300 stores have signed the HFI Protocol, used when advising customers on the remedies available in-store. Around 50 have signed since the video was released with more coming into the HFI office daily, says HFI council member Cheryl Thallon, Viridian’s MD.

The four-minute video titled ‘Creating a Healthy Future’ is introduced by ITN newsreader Natasha Kaplinski and stars TV’s Dr Sara Kayat (pictured), with input from HFI secretary Ray Hill and a case study at South London health store, Baldwin & Co.

Dr Kayat joins fellow GPs Rangan Chatterjee and Rupy Aujla who are also pioneering the role of nutrition in preventative and restorative medicine.

“Lifestyle medicine to me is about using interventions like physical exercise, diet, sleep management and stress management to reduce the risk of disease and to lessen the burden of an illness,” she says. “Health food stores are a great resource to help with education, lifestyle and simple health and wellbeing.”

Baldwin’s assistant manager Andrea Parsons, an HFI Certificate holder, describes in the video how her qualification gives her added confidence in helping customers.

The four-minute film was launched at the College of Medicine conference in London in November and is being distributed by the College of Medicine directly to all members and partners. ITN Productions is distributing the video to 50,000 key executives at the Department of Health, Local Authorities, NHS Trusts, Authorised CCGs, GPs, Health & Wellbeing Boards and NHS England.

Viridian is encouraging stores to share the video on store websites and social media platforms and to tag local GP surgeries, and suggests inviting local GPs and health visitors to watch the video and to visit stores.

The video can be viewed at collegeofmedicine.org.uk/creating-a-healthy-future-new-programme-from-college-of-medicine-and-itn-productions (playlist 03).

To sign up for the HFI protocol, contact Alison Collingwood on 0115 9767280, email [email protected].