HEALTH BOARDS across Scotland have been told to copy an NHS Tayside project that banned sugary drinks from hospital vending machines, writes Marjory Inglis, health reporter.

The scheme in Tayside has gone further, persuading even commercial companies selling drinks in hospital shops and cafes to participate in the scheme.

They too have cleared their shelves of sugar-loaded options and substituted diet fizzy drinks, bottled water and reduced sugar fruit juices.

The Scottish Government has been so impressed with the success of the scheme that it has contacted every health board in Scotland, saying it expects action to be taken to remove all soft drinks with a high sugar content from vending machines in hospitals.

The letter from the director general for health at the Scottish Government, Dr Kevin Woods, highlights the Tayside initiative and, along with other examples of good practice, states it is now “expected” these will be “replicated” throughout NHS Scotland.

The Drinks4Health scheme was introduced as a trial in Perth Royal Infirmary in 2005.

It was so successful the three-month pilot immediately became a permanent feature of that hospital’s policy.

Towards the end of last year the ban was introduced at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.

The much bigger site was always expected to be a tougher nut to crack, but changing patterns of consumption meant that by that time already 70% of the drinks purchased on site were “diet” versions.

All high sugar drinks were cleared from the site’s vending machines, canteens and commercial outlets in a bid to promote healthy living habits and tackle obesity at “point of sale.”

One of the architects of the healthy drinks policy, NHS Tayside deputy director of public health Paul Ballard, said he wanted to persuade people to change to healthier habits until sugar-free drinks became the norm.

He said just like the smoking policy, the healthy drinks policy was about developing a culture and changing things one step at a time.

Welcoming the news that other boards were being advised to remove high sugar drinks from vending machines, he said, “We are a wee bit ahead of the game.

“We are not just removing them from vending machines but from canteens, and we have worked in partnership with commercial outlets too.”