Choose You celebrates one year of supporting healthier lives across Central Bedfordshire
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
One year on from its launch, Choose You, is celebrating a successful first year of helping residents across Central Bedfordshire take positive steps towards healthier lifestyles.
Launched in May 2025, Choose You is a free service, designed to support people to quit smoking, manage their weight, and build healthier habits that last. Over the past 12 months, the service has supported residents by providing personalised, flexible help.
In its first year, 965 Central Bedfordshire residents signed up to quit smoking, with 44% successfully quitting, helping hundreds of people to reduce the risks associated with smoking.
Meanwhile, 158 Central Bedfordshire residents, completed the programme to lose weight, with 23% successfully losing between 5% and 10% of their overall body weight, demonstrating the positive impact of tailored lifestyle support.
Choose You offers a range of support including tailored stop smoking programmes, behavioural change support, nicotine replacement options, as well as structured healthy weight programmes to help people make gradual, sustainable lifestyle changes. The service also signposts people to additional support, such as mental wellbeing, drugs and alcohol support, or sexual health services, where needed.
Residents can refer themselves directly, or be referred by a healthcare professional, making it easier than ever to access help at the right time.
Councillor Mark Smith, our Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health, said:
Choose You has shown just how powerful the right kind of support can be. By offering practical, personalised help, the service has enabled residents to make positive changes to their health. We are proud of what has been achieved and, as we move into our second year, we want to help even more people quit smoking, manage their weight and maintain healthier lifestyles.
Throughout its first year, the service has focused on removing barriers that can prevent people from prioritising their health. Choose You offers compassionate, non‑judgemental support to help people make achievable changes at their own pace.
Vicky Head, Director of Public Health, said:
When we launched Choose You, our goal was to provide residents with practical, accessible support to help them quit smoking and lose weight. In just one year, the service has made a real difference, supporting people to take those first steps towards better health. As we build on this success, we remain committed to ensuring residents continue to have access to high‑quality, free support to help them make positive, lasting changes and live longer, healthier lives.
The impact of the service can be seen through the real experiences of people who have taken part.
Amelia lost over 15kg through the healthy weight programme, describing it as “not a diet, but a way of living”. For Amelia she said the key was “Never missing a class. Every week, I learned something new”.
David who had smoked for four decades said:
It was nice to have the encouragement and know that you aren’t on your own.
For David what really helped him was the connection, consistency, and compassion he received from the service.
We deliver Choose You in partnership with Bedford Borough Council and Milton Keynes City Council.