Sweet deal: Will a sugar tax work?

The Nursing in Practice March/April 2016 issue is now available in print, online and as an app. Jamie Oliver, the TV chef turned campaigner, talks about his fight for a sugar tax. “A tax on sugary sweetened drinks isn’t the magic bullet that’s going to solve everything, but it is one very important measure that needs to be taken immediately to start moving the dial when it comes to obesity and diet-related disease, ” he says. Following on from Jamie Oliver’s interview, this issue’s feature looks at the sugar tax that has recently been put in place. Helen Donovan, the Royal College of Nursing’s professional lead for public health, says: “There has been a big focus on not eating too much fat. There’s a feeling that we have probably ignored sugar.” Additionally, Professor Iain Broome, director of the Centre for Obesity Research and Epidemiology at Robert Gordon University; Kate Halliwell, nutrition and health manager at the Food and Drink Federation; Dr Alison Tedstone, director of diet and obesity at Public health England, all comment on the tax. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) new guidance is also a key part of this issue. The guidance covered includes: caring for dying patients, managing tuberculosis, improving the care of patients with myeloma and assessing and managing motor neurone disease. Nurses can once again catch up on all of the latest news in healthcare, stories include: the delay of the obesity strategy, pay rises for nurses, bursary cuts, a new vision for mental health and much more. Jayne Foley, programme manager in return to practice at Cardiff University, offers readers advice about how returning to nursing really works. She says: “Shortage of nurses within the NHS translates into a favourable climate for those individuals considering a return to practice, accompanied by a buoyant national recruitment campaign for those wishing to return.” Lucy Williams, nursing activity manager in Medecins Sans Frontieres Bentiu, speaks from first hand experience about working in a conflict area in the magazine’s nurse profile. Having nursed in Ramtha, a small town in the North of Jordan near to the border of Syria, and now working in Bentiu in South Sudan, she says it has “taught me a lot, not just about assessing the patients… but also assessing the patients, organising their treatment and discharging them”. The 11 clinical, peer-reviewed articles topics are: the health impacts of air pollution, managing cholesterol levels, avoiding amputations in diabetic patients, anger management in the community, aftercare of stroke, caring for patients with dementia and much more. Nursing in Practice’sCommunity Midwife Specialis released alongside this issue. The special kick starts with an introduction from Grace Thomas, profession head of midwifery at Cardiff University, she discuss where the midwifery profession currently stands and what midwives should expect to face in the foreseeable future. The magazine continues with articles that focus upon the following: supporting hypnobirthing couples, planned cesarean sections, ectopic pregnancy and managing hypertension pregnancies. To download the app click here. To see the issue online click here.