Obesity is a global and complex public health concern, and in England, rates are rising with 64 percent of adults in England estimated to be overweight or obese.
There has been an upward trend in the numbers, with 26 per cent of adults in 2022 defined obese, up four per cent since 2015.
Even though obesity is more prevalent in older people, the rate of childhood obesity is deeply worrying, standing at 9.2 per cent for children aged 4 to 5 and 22.7 per cent in children aged 10 to11.
Obesity in the UK is now a health crisis. It is one of the leading risks for cancer as well as being associated with lower life expectancy, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases, liver and respiratory diseases. It also affects joints and can impact mental health.
In short, its impacts are huge and it’s something which as a nation, we must get a grip on.
The NHS spends £6 billion a year treating obesity-related ill-health and that is forecast to rise to £10 billion a year by 2050.
According to a report by Lane, Clark & Peacock (LCP), the average overweight Brit costs the health service at least £1,000 in healthcare costs per year. But those considered very obese, with a body mass index over 40, cost the NHS around £5,000 per head.
This includes £2,306 per patient for Type 2 diabetes and £1,523 for pre-diabetes. The largest proportion of the money is spent in emergency or hospital care – which is also where most of the money in the NHS is spent.
That is why I believe there needs to be a renewed focus on the treatment of obesity and metabolic conditions which should be viewed as an investment in our health, not a cost.
Prevention is, after all, better than cure.
Managing obesity and metabolic diseases is critical to better patient outcomes and the long-term sustainability of the NHS. And the best place for this to happen is in primary care, before diseases become life threatening.
But to do this, we need more resources, including investment in AI and technology which helps identify those patients who need treatment and crucially, those who can be helped before they develop a serious health condition like diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
The increasing prevalence of obesity places a huge burden on the NHS, and it severely impacts quality of life for patients.
It also leads to conditions which increase the workload of GP practices due to the variety of checks which must be carried out, from regular blood tests to a range of nine to ten checks per patient, in the case of diabetes, not forgetting the impact of musculoskeletal problems, cardiovascular and kidney diseases.
You cannot untangle obesity and metabolic diseases - they are the entwined and we should be focusing on their prevention and management as a priority, including in the national curriculum. The rate of childhood obesity shows that the education of children, including learning how to cook healthy, nutritious meals, is a critical part of any obesity strategy.
This is not just another GP asking for more money: Being able to properly manage these conditions at primary care level has been proven to increase life expectancy and this new data also shows what we already knew - that it will save money by preventing worsening health which requires hospital treatment.
And it’s when someone is in hospital that the real costs occur. It’s about reprioritising funding.
Often when someone attends hospital, it means that preventative steps have not happened for one reason or another.
In my primary care network, we clinicians focus on a patient's three treatment targets and lifestyle changes which can reduce a patient’s blood sugar levels (HbA1c) and blood pressure, resulting in improved health and reduced risk from cardiovascular disease and other complications of metabolic diseases.
At the same time, we work with patients who have diabetes or pre-diabetes to help reverse their condition through education, lifestyle changes and medication.
In the long run, this can save money across the NHS and improve lives for people who struggle with metabolic health conditions, including diabetes and obesity.
We have seen great results from this approach, and they are welcomed by patients. It’s something I’d like to see a greater focus on when the new government is deciding its health strategy.