There has been widespread alarm as statistics were released showing that there has been an 8-fold rise in the number of hospitals admissions for obesity.
The NHS Information Centre put the data in the public sphere to make the nation aware of the pressure obesity is putting on the health services.
Almost 1 in 4 UK adults is obese, with 59% more people being admitted to hospital than last year, 8 times the number admitted between 1998/9. In 2008/9, 7,990 patients went into hospital due to their weight problems, with bariatric surgeries such as gastric bands and stomach stapling doubling over two years, from 1,950 to 4,220.
There has also been a dramatic increase in the number of prescriptions being written for slimming drugs, increasing by 10 times. This however is to be expected, as new slimming pills were approved by NICE.
The Chief Executive of the NHS Information Centre, Tim Straughan, said that the report highlighted both the impact excess weight was having on society and the NHS.
The Shadow Health Minister Mike Penning lambasted the government for being ‘shamefully complacent’ about the problem. The Department of Health responded by saying that they were investing time and money to prevent people becoming obese in the first place.