Doctors paid to advise obese patients to lose weight

An article by Mirriam Stoppard in the Daily Mirror last week states that she  is deeply shocked by the new Government initiative to pay doctors for every obese patient they advise to lose weight.

She states….”What surprises me is that GPs need an ­incentive to raise the topic of fatness with their patients in the first place, particularly as they are ideally placed to do so.

We all agree that obesity is a problem, but there is a common reluctance that prevents people from mentioning the issue.

A school of political correctness supports the view that speaking to a fat person about their weight will upset them, and therefore it is a no-go area. Protect the sensitivities of the fatties at all costs, even if their fatness is eventually going to kill them.

I’m not sure where this softly-softly approach to obesity has come from, but I think one of the factors is that many people believe being overweight has nothing to do with them.”

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In my view I agree with Miriam that doctors shouldn’t be paid to advise patients on weight loss etc but should do it in their working day.

By tackling the situation on a day to day basis could save the health service a fortune in the long run. She states that people worry about talking about issues but surely this will help the individual concerned even though it might be hard in the beginning.

We all know that sometimes we eat for the sake of it but there are so many people who are suffering from other issues which in fact results in weight gain. I have first hand experience of this as I have never been overweight but due to issues with family and friends being ill with cancer and even dying made me turn to food and wine this resulting in over 13lbs in weight gain.

100% people have introduced this month a new community designed for the plus size community to discuss issues and provide support groups so if you want to help why not join today.

What are your thoughts about this?