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Food and Health Consultancy

The Isle of Wight Rural Community Council's Food and Health Consultancy offers a comprehensive range of skills and experience and a proven track record of delivery and innovation from its team of two consultants, Sara Ellis and Elaine Garrett who are committed to the delivery of high-quality and evidence-based health improvement programmes.

Sara Ellis

Sara Ellis has nearly 20 years experience of working in voluntary sector organisations on the Isle of Wight, and Gloucestershire in homelessness, housing, advice work, health inequalities and food and health. Her roles have included working with homeless single people in all age groups, housing management, and project development. A key interest in that time has been research, whilst working in housing she completed several housing aspiration reports on young people living in Cheltenham and the first housing assessment on accommodation for sex offenders for Stonham Housing Association. In addition, she compiled the Shriek Guide for women facing homelessness on the Isle of Wight.
Since 2000, Sara has worked at the Isle of Wight Rural Community Council as facilitator of the IW Healthy Eating Alliance. The Healthy Eating Alliance is a large, active and vibrant network of individuals with a professional or personal interest in food and health issues. In 2006, the IWHEA received the Caroline Walker Trust Award for a community group making an outstanding contribution to improving public health through good food. Sara has led lobbying and campaigning related to food and health issues both locally and nationally. Sara represents the voluntary and community sector and parents as a member of the Isle of Wight Healthy Weight Action Group, which is the partnership body guiding local obesity policy and commissioning of services.
During her time working with the Alliance, Sara has developed considerable expertise and knowledge in the field of food and health and links with a network of regional and national contacts working in associated fields. She is qualified to Diploma level (with credit) in Public Health Nutrition in the Community, and able to directly deliver training programmes in her field of interest. Sara currently develops and manages the Community Chef Service, publishing a Cooking with the Chefs recipe book for children in 2008.
Sara has extensive experience of partnership working, bid development, research and consultancy associated with food and health and obesity. She has a particular interest in food poverty and diet-related health inequalities.
Sara has a proven track record in achieving outcomes through partnership working with local businesses, the voluntary and community sector and statutory sector. Sara has undertaken a number of consultancy projects with the statutory sector, including:

• Joint co-ordination and delivery of the Big Lottery Community education programme for 5 A DAY locally with the IWPCT
• Support programme to Healthy Schools to include, audit, policy development and consultation for the Healthy Eating Theme with individual schools. Together with a role in quality assurance and moderation.
•  Bespoke training on food policy development for Childminders
• Large scale consultation with stakeholders on school meals locally, with recommendations to inform the initial spend of Standards Fund Grant 5a
• Evaluation of Executive Chef Mentoring Programme, aimed at improving the quality and presentation of school meals
• Shopping basket and dietary intake recall surveys.
• Development and piloting of successful Community Weight loss programme using NICE guidance.

Sara has a strong set of community engagement skills, working with children, young people and adults. The use of Participatory Appraisal and Illuminative Research ensures that all taking part feel included and that views are taken on-board The success of this approach is evidenced through her work to develop and sustain the Healthy Eating Alliance and her ongoing programme of commissioned work in consultation and evaluation. She is passionate but realistic in achieving better outcomes through improved health for all.
Sara is vice chair of the governors at a primary school, with leading roles in Health and Wellbeing, Quality Assurance and Achievement and Standards, a trustee of the IW Law Centre and an Ambassador for the School Food Trust.

Elaine Garrett

Elaine Garrett has 30 years experience of working in public sector organisations in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight in education, library services and most recently in various senior posts in the NHS. These have included senior management and policy roles in commissioning, public health and performance management. A number of Elaine's NHS roles have been associated with facilitating partnership working between the NHS and Local Authority, including the co-ordination of the main partnership bodies at the interface of health and social care for well over 10 years. Most recently Elaine worked in the IW Primary Care Trust's Public Health Department where she specialised in food and health, obesity and health inequalities. Elaine is now based with the Isle of Wight Rural Community Council.
Elaine has extensive experience of partnership working, bid development, research, policy implementation and business planning. She has coupled this experience with formal academic qualifications, including a Diploma in Health and Social Care from the Open University and an MSc in Food Policy from City University in London. Elaine achieved a distinction in her MSc and was awarded a prize by the Worshipful Company of Cooks for the best dissertation in her year.
Elaine's special interests include policy analysis, particularly associated with food and health and obesity, diet-related health inequalities and the social and cultural aspects of food. Elaine undertook research about the social determinants of nutritional well-being in older people for her MSc and has retained a particular interest in this area. Elaine also has considerable experience relating to provision for people with physical and sensory and learning disabilities.
Elaine has a range of project management experience and is able to "incubate" new and innovative project proposals. She has successfully delivered high quality projects on schedule and within budget. She has a strong track record of successful funding bids and associated project delivery. These have included being awarded Big Lottery funding for a community education programme to promote 5-A-Day delivered in partnership with the voluntary sector, securing funding for the establishment of a local Community Chef Service that is now part of the Rural Community Council, co-ordinating a large bid for a CVD health inequalities programme and working with the local college to secure Learning & Skills Council monies for training opportunities for disabled people.
Elaine's style is practical and outputs are always grounded in the realities of the external and internal environments facing the organisations she works with. She balances this with skill in identifying new opportunities for creativity and innovation, underpinned by a sound and up-to-date knowledge of developments in policy and practice in her fields of special interest. She has retained good working links with the Department of Food Policy at City University. She is able to manage a complex and high volume work load, working to tight, and often competing, deadlines and used to adapting to changing priorities and targets.
Elaine's work is underpinned by strong good communication skills. These range from high level inter-personal skills in negotiating and influencing to underpin the building of positive relationships in a range of organisations, to being able to present complex written reports. She is also competent in delivering presentations to a range of audiences, including local workshops and sub-regional and regional conferences.

Working with the IWRCC

The RCC's portfolio of work on food and health and healthy weight management is supported by two Community Chefs and a Rural Health Trainer who is qualified in nutrition to BSc level.
Organisational policies and insurance cover
The IW Rural Community Council s a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity. The RCC holds a current ISO 9001 accreditation for Quality Management Systems, is accredited ACRE Levels 1 & 2 and has a comprehensive range of policies in place, to ensure organisational compliance with Health and Safety and Equality and Diversity legislative requirements.
The RCC has Public Liability and Employers Liability Insurance cover, both to a value of £10m and Professional Indemnity Insurance cover to a value of £250,000. Copies of audited annual accounts and annual reports for the last three years are available on request.
Please contact mail@iwrcc.org.uk for more information and a quotation