Lose 5lbs and save the NHS £100m
Hancock says Covid was ‘wake-up call’ on obesity as he urges nation to shed weight
EVERYONE who is overweight should lose at least five pounds to save the NHS £100million, as well as countless lives, the Health Secretary says today.
Matt Hancock says coronavirus is the “deadly wake-up call” that Britain needs to tackle obesity, as he unveiled a strategy to slim the nation’s waistlines.
Advertising of unhealthy foods will be banned online and before the 9pm TV watershed; buy-one-get-one-free deals on chocolate and crisps are out and calorie counts will appear on menus.
In addition, an army of “weight loss coaches” at GP surgeries will be trained to persuade millions to alter their diets and reform couch potato lifestyles.
Writing today in The Daily Telegraph, the Health Secretary says: “This deadly virus has given us a wake-up call about the need to tackle the stark inequalities in our nation’s health, and obesity is an urgent example of this.
“If everyone who is overweight lost five pounds it could save the NHS more than £100 million over the next five years. And more importantly, given the link between obesity and coronavirus, losing weight could be life-saving.”
GPS’ pay will be boosted for increasing the number of overweight patients referred to slimming clubs, and online weight loss programmes. Doctors will also be told to prescribe exercise and social activities and an NHS 12-week weight loss app will be launched today.
Those who are overweight can expect much more “direct communication” from their GP, with family doctors told to help people shed the pounds as they would help them stop smoking.
The Prime Minister, pictured yesterday walking his dog, Dilyn, will launch the campaign today via a video which will be published on social media. Its theme will be the link between obesity and Covid-19 deaths and Mr Johnson will refer to his own battle with the virus and his belief that his weight played a part in the seriousness of his illness.
The PM says his coronavirus scare was the “wake-up call” he needed to get in shape. “I’ve wanted to lose weight for ages and like many people I struggle with my weight. I go up and down, but during the whole coronavirus epidemic and when I got it too, I realised how important it is not to be overweight,” he wrote in an op-ed for The Daily Express.
Health campaigners backed the moves, but the food and drinks industry last night said the measures could cripple businesses when they were at their most fragile.
The PM’S fight with Covid-19 has changed his “libertarian” view on state intervention in people’s diet. He has said he lost more than a stone after coming out of hospital by eating less and exercising more.
Britain is the second fattest country in Europe, with more than a third of children overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, along with two in three adults.
“Obesity is one of the greatest longterm health challenges that we face as a country,” Mr Hancock writes. “It not only puts a strain on our NHS and care system, but it also piles pressure on our bodies, making us more vulnerable to many diseases, including coronavirus.”
Restaurants, pub chains and takeaways with at least 250 employees will be forced to put calorie labels on all food and drinks consumed. The drive to cut down “liquid calories” will not just mean labels on bottles but could mean calorie counts on beer taps, or nearby signs or menus.
The restrictions will also ban the placing and promotion of crisps and
chocolates near tills, in a bid to reduce the impact of “pester power” on parents. Mr Hancock says the campaign, which will see mass television advertisements starting at 6pm today, will “support people to make the healthiest choices for themselves and their families, and help protect the NHS”.
“At its heart is better information: making sure everyone has the best possible information about the food that they enjoy, a big communications campaign about why obesity matters, and much more direct communication and support from your GP, who should see helping people tackle obesity in the same light as helping people tackle smoking,” he writes.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is consulting on plans to boost the pay of GPS who refer over- weight patients to slimming classes. And the new strategy says such incentives will be brought in by next year.
Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’S chief executive, said: “This is a landmark day for the nation’s health.
Being overweight or obese puts people at risk of many diseases, including 13 different types of cancer.”
Caroline Cerny, head of the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 health organisations, medical royal colleges and campaign groups, said they were “delighted” by the move.
However, Tim Rycroft, chief operating officer at the Food and Drink Federation, said it was “extraordinary” that the Government was proposing restrictions on promotions and advertising at such a precarious economic time.
“New restrictions on promoting and advertising everyday food and drink will increase the price of food, reduce consumer choice and threaten jobs across the UK,” he said.