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NHS faces £2.2bn bill for overweight patients
Sophie Goodchild07.10.08
Overweight and obese patients are costing London health chiefs £2.2 billion a year.
New government figures today show the cost to health trusts of bad diet and lack of exercise.
Officials warn the bill could rise to £2.45 billion by 2015. the estimates are based on how much individual NHS trusts spend on treating patients with obesityrelateddiseases such as diabetes, heart problems and cancer.
Sutton and Merton spends the most in London - £93.8 million compared with £39.7 million for Kingston. Other high spenders are Newham with £92.6 million, ealing with £89 million and Croydon with £88.9 million. the cost is highlighted in guidance to trusts on tackling poor eating and "couch potato" lifestyles.
Department of Health figures show nearly 90 per cent of parents do not recognise their children are overweight. Families also underestimate the amount of bad food they buy.
Nearly two thirds of adults do not know obesity can lead to heart disease. Public health minister Dawn Primarolo said: "every year 9,000 people die prematurely."
Almost two thirds of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese. A government advertising campaign called Change4Life will be launched in January aimed at changing attitudes towards diet and exercise.
Reader views (5)
I am a over weight person i have put on 10+ over the last years and now weight 25+ i suffer from severe depression and i have a lot of health problems unrelated to my weight problem i cant afford to go private or i would in a shot believe me i refuse to look in the mirror at myself because i am embarrised and wish i could just take a pill that would just put me to sleep as i dont know how long i cope with it.Ive read some of the other comments made and i agree with the comment that no one complains about someone with anorexia who are at the end of the spectrum and no one complains about the treatment the recieve but if an over weight person asks for help to change there lifes i,e gastric band and that makes them dwindlers of nhs money i could even say that some one who gets pregnant and does not want the baby or it was a accident then this person should of made sure they were using contrasception and because of this she will be using funds for her abortion then should she be charged for this treatment no because the nhs is was invented for these purposes so i get upset when these people who complain that over weight people should not get free treatment they are just IGNORANT if these rules are being used by the nhs trusts then changes should be done to change these rules and i for one will be contacting the secertary of state for health to find out the policy for overweight people to recieve help,this is a disease that only surgery and specialist care can change this problem
- Garry Watson, glasgow
Well Jc I really hope you don't remain FAT after the birth of your child as a lot of women do retain some of the weight...I am overweight and no not on the dole or a couch potato...I cycle an hour everyday to work, eat reasonably healthy (finance allowing) and do alot of walking so please don't class all overweight people as " Fatties" and as for the so called wasted money you mention being spent on them...well look at the money being spent on anorexias!! does your same principle apply to people in that category?
- Sarah, London
Many people who are overweight have struggled with the problem for years. They are not all over-eating slobs. The NHS offered them little help or understanding of what is a very complex problem, many have spent substantial monies for private treatment, alas not everyone can afford to do this. Until the medical profession start to assess and address this problem and offer REAL help to those people who desperately need and want it, it really needs to 'hold fire' on sweeping statements, that, intentionally or not, lumps all overweight people together as over-eating layabouts.
- Marie, Worcester Park
Err Nige mate, I think you’re missing the point. These people don’t just drop dead. They cost the tax payer by years of heart attacks, breathing problems, diabetes, etc, etc. Not to mention the sheer time cost of all the doctors appointments they are likely to make. I am heavily pregnant and will be on my own when I go into labour. I asked the midwife if I may call an ambulance, and I was told no. Why? Because she said, every time an ambulance goes on call it costs on average £5,000. That’s a lot of money wasted every time one of these fatties has a chest pain. The burden these people put on the system is further exacerbated by having to install bigger doorways, pulley systems, reinforced beds, wider wheelchairs and not to mention the more staff needed when these people are in surgery. They also have longer recovery times than a normal, fit person. And what gets me is when they have the audacity of asking for a gastric band to be fitted as they are clinically depressed!!! Ha, what a joke. They are a strain on the waistline of the NHS, not just their own. You may not care where your taxes go (or perhaps you are on the dole so it does not affect you), but I do. I would much rather my money went on getting patients the drugs they rightly deserve and recruiting more staff to fill the dangerous gaps in the workforce.
- Jc, London
"Every year 9000 [obese] people die prematurely". And thereby save the taxpayer from forking out for their pensions, at several thousand pounds per annum. In contrast the alleged 2.2 billion "cost" to the NHS is just £37 per capita, or a few months' state pension if you sum it up over a lifetime.
Obese people aren't costing the taxpayer a penny. They're saving the rest of the population a fortune by dying early, and (unlike heavy boozers and smokers) they don't cause any trouble by being obese. So can the nanny state please just GO AWAY and leave people to live their lives as they want to?
- Nigel, London
