60 Second Interview: Kerry Aitken

In December 2020, Kerry joined the team as our new Clinical Lead for Adult Weight Management, building on her expertise leading the service at NHS Fife and collaboration with colleagues across the region. Here she shares her experience supporting our Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) programmes to date and how she hopes to drive all of this work forward.

1. Tell us about your experience in dietetics and what you love most about working in this area…

I started out as a fitness instructor and freelance personal trainer, which sparked my interest in improving people’s health through exercise and nutrition. I then decided to go back to university to study dietetics and the rest, quite frankly, is history! I’ve worked at NHS Fife since graduating and have now been a dietitian here for over 20 years.

I initially specialised in dietetics for acute surgery and critical care, making the move to weight management in 2014. Whilst the two areas are very different, working in general surgery really fuelled my interest in bariatric surgery. I became the weight management team lead in Fife at a time when the service was starting to expand and have loved being part of all the change that’s taken place over the past few years. I’ve also worked as part of the Anorexia Nervosa Intensive Treatment Team, supporting patients with eating disorders.

These roles have really opened my eyes to the widespread problem of weight stigma, despite all of the factors outside of an individual’s control which contribute to overweight and obesity. Raising awareness of these misconceptions and supporting people who have to experience the impact of such bias on a daily basis, is something I am very passionate about.

2. What inspired you to lead efforts to advance adult weight management across the East of Scotland? And what do you hope to get out of the role?

I was already part of this work so it felt very natural to get more involved. I am exceptionally proud of what we have achieved so far and wanted to have greater influence going forward. A key goal of mine is to progress the digital transformation of services that we’ve seen accelerate as a result of Covid-19, whilst supporting local areas to deliver intervention programmes online. I’m also really keen to enhance peer support, particularly among those of us delivering Counterweight Plus. It’s a very challenging programme and we’ve got lots to learn from each other, so in doing so I hope that we can work more effectively together and provide greater equity for our patients.

Our Tier 3 service is something that I am really passionate about and all three boards are working to improve. We’re currently not meeting the national standards and there’s variation across the region, so I want to do everything possible to ensure equity across the region. I’m also keen to improve the service for those with learning disabilities, eating disorders and mental health challenges, along with focusing on maternal and fertility weight management. This is a huge ask but I’m confident that we can get there.

We are starting to raise the issue of weight bias and obesity stigma but I want to drive forward efforts to tackle this. The Scottish Government are planning to provide training for weight management teams across the country over the next year. However we also need to extend this to our other health and social care colleagues. People should not be coming to us with the preconception that we hold these inherent biases, so we need to work harder to eradicate this across the system.

I also want to ensure that we continue to obtain meaningful data, so that we can use this to review and improve our services – gaining more feedback from patients around what’s working well and what improvements we can make. Now that new services are live, it’s critical that we increase accessibility – opening up self-referral and communicating that this is possible to the people most in need. This should empower individuals to refer themselves to the service at the right time – when they are ready and motivated to take part.

3. What do you see as the biggest a) challenge and b) opportunity to reducing Type 2 Diabetes through our partnership, in the new Covid-19 landscape?

For me the biggest challenge is around increasing accessibility of services and reaching those most at risk. Whilst Covid-19 has sped up efforts to provide services virtually and has been the driver for digital transformation, many people are unable to take part in our programmes online – as a result of digital poverty. Whilst the immediate priority is to support patients on our waiting lists, we must then combine efforts to improve accessibility at pace. The way we’ve been able to work together throughout the pandemic, using video calls and virtual platforms to communicate with colleagues, is something that I would never have thought possible. So this has been a real positive and changed things for the long term.

4. Tell us an interesting fact about yourself…

I walked the Great Wall of China with a friend in 2002, raising money for Maggie’s Cancer Charity. I met loads of inspiring people and made some great friends for life – one of which I helped to stitch a wound in her buttock after falling down a hill!