We’ve written about Change4Life before. Education and prevention were key to High Quality Care for All’s vision for the future of the NHS. Over the past twelve months, Change4Life’s Healthy Towns schemes have been transforming the health of all kinds of people up and down the country: from free fruit and veg for Sheffield’s Year Seven pupils, to Halifax’s healthy weight projects and Dudley’s improvement of its walking and cycling facilities, Change4Life has been helping people live healthier lives in a variety of ways.

Now new findings suggest that all this hard work - on the part of the NHS, local authorities and local people - may be starting to have an effect. The Department of Health yesterday issued a press release announcing that new data produced by an Oxford University team shows a levelling off in obesity in children.

Other venues carried the story, too, including The Guardian, The Independent, and ITN. It’s great to have such good news to tell, and it would be hard to ask for a stronger sign that initiatives like Change4Life are central to a  quality health service. The work is far from finished of course; but we are on the right track.