The NHS Information Centre has published figures that show that prescriptions for weight loss pills have been on the rise over the last few years. In 2009 there were 1.5 million NHS prescriptions issued for diet pills and clearly a lot more were issued privately to patients who do not use the NHS. This information is not exactly shocking news but it has been jumped on by the likes of the Daily Mail with criticism of doctors doling out drugs at a huge cost to the NHS to provide a quick fix.
The total cost to the NHS was £47 million in 2009. This is not such a staggeringly large figure when you consider that obesity rates have increased from 7% in 1980 to 23% in 2009. British women are now officially the fattest in Western Europe and many (albeit a minority) are turning to their GPs for help. Anti-obesity medications are not handed out lightly and dieters need to demonstrate that they are losing weight before they are allowed to continue on the medication, which is pretty expensive.
We all know that a healthy diet and regular exercise are the best ways to lose weight and then maintain it at a healthy level but some people clearly need an extra boost and there is nothing wrong with that so long as they fulfil their side of the bargain and make the adjustments necessary to lose weight. If they don’t then they will not get a repeat prescription – it is as simple as that.
Xenical (orlistat) is the only diet pill that can be prescribed at the current time and it is anything but a quick fix. People will lose twice as much weight on this medication than by dieting alone but the weight loss is slow and steady – this is the best way to achieve a sustainable weight loss.
We know that it is easy to criticise doctors for handing out what are essentially lifestyle medications on the NHS and there is an argument to be advanced that these drugs should only be available privately but obesity is a huge problem because of all the associated risks that come along with it such as heart disease and diabetes and these issues will cost the NHS dear in years to come. What is incontrovertible however is the argument that patients must take responsibility for their weight and if they do not adapt their lifestyle to one more compatible with maintaining a healthy weight then they should be cut loose by the NHS in terms of prescriptions for expensive weight loss products.