STAFF and patients at Banbury's Horton General Hospital will join a 'healthy hospital day' today to discover ways to improve their health and wellbeing.

From this morning onwards, the Oxford Road hospital will be hosting health promotion stands with information on increasing physical activity, eating healthily, BMI checks, mental health support, and Tai chi demonstrations in the restaurant.

For anyone looking for specialist advice about managing weight, Achieve Oxfordshire will be handing out vouchers for a 12-week Slimming World programme if they qualify.

The occupational health team from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (which runs the Horton) will be available to answer questions on staff mental and emotional well-being, as well as share information about the next mindfulness course for staff at the Horton in June.

The Here for Health Improvement team will also be offering 'mini health MOT's.

Health and Wellbeing Promotion Specialist Anna Hinton said: "The hospital is a twenty-four seven, 365 day environment so it's important that we keep ourselves physically and mentally healthy in order to build our resilience. Research shows that when we take care of ourselves and our colleagues, our service is better and patients benefit.

"The experts around on the day will be able to discuss many aspects of physical and mental health, and they’ll be able to answer any questions our staff, visitors or patients might have.

"There’ll be plenty of tips and lots of guidance on the steps people can take to live a healthier life – it’s often the small changes that make the biggest difference. As a trust we place great importance on the health and wellbeing of staff and visitors."