We know that throughout the UK that obesity is rapidly becoming a pandemic of its own. In shocking statistics released by NHS Digital, during 2019/2020, there were over 1 million admissions to hospitals where obesity was either a primary or secondary factor for hospitalisation, which is a sharp rise of 17% on the 2018/2019 statistics.
Of these 1 million plus hospitalisations, nearly 11,000 were because of a primary diagnosis of obesity – the main reason the patient was hospitalised was because of their weight, whether this be through ill health, or for bariatric surgery. These conditions are likely to be heart, lung, joint or cancer-based, which we know can all be linked to being overweight or obese.
How much does obesity cost the NHS?
Even taking the smaller admissions number of 6,740 patients that the report states had a primary diagnosis for hospitalisation of obesity, the financial implication to the NHS is staggering. If each patient was in hospital for bariatric surgery and with the average cost the NHS of weight loss surgery being approximately £5,500, the total cost to the NHS for these 6,740 patients could be upwards of £37 million pounds a year. Additionally, 294,000 items were prescribed by the NHS to treat obesity in 2019/2020. This had a net cost of £8.8 million to the NHS for the treatment of this often-preventable condition.
The true extent of the cost of obesity to the NHS
However, these statistics only paint part of the picture of the true cost of obesity to the NHS each year. Even in a government report dating back to 2014/2015, the NHS was estimating the cost of obesity to be around £6.1billion per year that they were spending on overweight and obesity-related ill-health.
As the report states:
“Annual spend on the treatment of obesity…is greater than the amount spent on the police, fire service and judicial system combined.”
With NHS reports showing that 68% of men and 60% of women in the UK are now classed as overweight or obese, will these shocking numbers, combined with the significantly higher risk that being overweight or obese poses with COVID-19, be the wake-up call we need to start changing our health and lifestyle ways?
Is it all bad news?
Well, despite these scary-looking new statistics, there are some positive figures from the report, that show that it is not all doom and gloom and that may well show that we are already starting to change as a society and be consciously looking at our weight loss diets. Despite an increase in overall admissions relating to obesity, there was a 3% decrease in admissions where obesity was the primary factor down from 11,117 admissions in 2018/19 to 10,780 in 2019/2020.
Additionally, the prescriptions written for the treatment of obesity for items such as Xenical have dropped from 355,000 in 2019 to 294,000 in 2020, saving the NHS almost £2million over the 12 months.
How can we help the NHS with tackling obesity?
But what else can we be doing to help save the NHS money, time and additional stress when it comes to obesity? Simply put, we can stay within a healthy weight range! If we know that extra strain and pressure is put on the NHS by us being overweight or obese, we can do all we can to live a healthy lifestyle, look after ourselves and do our best to prevent ourselves become overweight or obese.
For many, this is easier said than done and for those who are struggling to lose weight or stay in a healthy weight for them, this is where medical weight loss clinics like The Slimming Clinic come in.
How can The Slimming Clinic support me in my weight loss, and in turn help the NHS?
Our doctor led, medical weight loss programmes mean you can still get the level of care you would expect from a GMC-registered doctor, like those that work for the NHS, but on a one-to-one basis, with bespoke, tailored weight loss advice that is designed just for you. Additionally, our weight loss programmes, combined with weight loss medication mean that you don’t have to go down the invasive and irreversible route of gastric weight loss surgery.
Medical weight loss programmes like ours at The Slimming Clinic support you to lose weight healthily and sustainably, so you’ll not only lose weight, but have the tools and knowledge to keep it off, once it is lost.