02.01.13
A quarter of UK adults are obese – RCP
The UK has the second highest prevalence of obesity in the world, a new report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) warns.
The report calls for obesity services to be improved, with greater collaboration and the use of multidisciplinary teams in primary care trusts.
A quarter of adults in the UK are obese, costing the NHS around £5bn a year. It is estimated that by 2050, the majority of the population will be classified as obese.
The RCP found that the rate of hospital bariatric procedures was as low as 0.4 per 100,000 patients in some areas, but 41.3 in others – a 93-fold variation.
Obesity also leads to complications such as heart disease, arthritis and sleep disorders, so ‘Action on Obesity’ calls for doctors to deal with weight issues before they become major risk factors, and for each trust to have a lead doctor to provide a link between the hospital and community.
Professor John Wass, chair of the RCP working party and academic vice-president, said: “Britain is getting bigger and whilst we try to prevent the increase in obesity, we must also prepare the NHS for the influx of patients presenting with severe complex obesity.
“A patient may arrive at my hospital with coronary heart disease, but if the root cause of their condition is obesity, we must be equipped to deal with that root cause.”
Professor Lindsey Davies, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said: “We welcome this report’s emphasis on the vital role that physicians play in tackling this public health crisis. The Faculty of Public Health supports the call for a single government lead on obesity, who would co-ordinate government action across every department – but every government department must play its part. The only way we will ever tackle the problems caused by obesity is by everyone working together.
“Obesity is not only caused by how much we each eat or drink: if tackling it were as simple as telling people to eat less and move more, we would have solved it by now. Our chances of being obese are also affected by factors like whether we have easy access to affordable fruit, veg and other healthy foods, and if it safe to let our kids play outside. That's why if governments focus on personal choice alone it is, at best, a red herring and, at worst, a dereliction of duty for everyone's health.”
Professor Nick Finer, co-author of the report and obesity specialist at the UCLH centre for weight loss, metabolic and endocrine surgery, commented: “We need to see improved leadership on obesity at every level; from the appointment of a lead physician in every trust, to the creation of a cross-governmental role.”
NHE interviewed Professor Finer about the funding for and commissioning of bariatric surgery in our Nov/Dec 2012 edition. Subscribe via: www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/Subscribe
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