So it is now February, Christmas seems some time ago. After all the over indulging, January sees a flourish of people joining gyms in order to achieve their New Years Resolution to get fit or lose weight.
However, as Spring approaches these new intentions dwindle and the gym becomes emptier by the day.
A New League Table has revealed that 65% of people in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire are classed as obese or overweight! Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire are above the national average for the percentage of people with a body mass index of 25 and above. So with an ever increasing overweight population, are we putting an additional strain on the Health Care which appears to be overstretched with limited resources. Do we need to take some responsibility for our own actions? Obviously there are medical conditions which cause obesity but if it is caused by one’s lifestyle, over indulging and lack of exercise then is that a different matter.
Gina Radford, Anglia and Essex Public Health England Centre Director said “Public Health England is committed to helping tackle the levels of people who are overweight and obese by supporting our local authorities to develop a broad programme of action to reduce levels of excess weight”.
There is no silver bullet to reducing obesity. It is an issue that requires action at national, local, family and individual level. Local Councils are monitoring the progress towards a national ambition of achieving a downward trend in excess weight by 2020.
So this leads to once debatable question. If we all stick to our New Year’s Resolutions to get fit and eat healthier and the obesity statistics dropped, what difference would this make to the NHS financially? More importantly, would this have any effect on the volume of Clinical Negligence claims?
Food for thought!
