How overweight do you have to be to get GP referreal to SW ??

[Xassy]

Well, you need to have an orthopaedic surgeon if your hip needs replacing but you don't need to go to SW to lose weight. And we're talking £5 a week for SW, not thousands for an operation and then follow up. Anyway I digress....as I said, there are limited funds and I think they should go where they are needed first. That's all I was saying. There is not enough to go around and the NHS paying for everyone to join a slimming club is not a priority IMO.

I see your point; however, where do you stop? Do you start means-testing other NHS services? Should someone who can afford an operation have to pay for it as opposed to having the operation done under the NHS? Services such as helping smokers stop are available at all surgeries and are not mean-tested which some may argue is akin to support being offered to people wanting to lose weight.

Whether or not we all agree about the availability of the vouchers, they are available and provide a good incentive to people to try and lose weight. As you correctly point out, the NHS is stretched already; however, when you balance £60 against the cost of obesity related diseases ( I think) its a bargain.

(Please don't flame me - just giving another perspective on the issue ...) x

 

[MadameLaMinx]

There always has to be a line drawn for funding of stuff like this, simply because resources are finite, but as I said in the thread in the news forum, sending severely overweight people to a SW group is a cost effective way to reduce their long term medical requirements. But like any such scheme, stop smoking support etc, the success of such a programme is dependant on the willingness of the participant to embrace the programme and follow it correctly long term.

If a line is to be drawn, perhaps the level of obesity should be the marker, rather than personal income levels. If someones life is in danger, then it is imperative that they lose weight. Perhaps as a preventative measure before referring them to surgeons for gastric bands and balloons, they should be made to complete a supervised course of sessions.

See, to me, being overweight is not a cause, it is a symptom of a deeper unhappiness. Of course there will be people who are big because they eat too much of the wrong things and are otherwise happy people, but I reckon if you scratch beneath the surface of a large amount of overweight and obese people you will find a much deeper hurt, that they are covering and managing by using food. What would work most effectively IMO, and have better success rates than simply enforced weight loss would be a more holistic approach to recovery, involving counselling or CBT in partnership with the weight loss programme.

We are so programmed to think our lives are not perfect unless we are happy all of the time, that we don't allow ourselves to rationalise and process the ebbs of life, which there will always be. It is perfectly ok not to be happy some or even most of the time. And it is not WRONG to be unhappy. It is just part of life. We mask our unhappiness with food and eat stuff that makes our brains produce happy hormones to falsify how we feel.


Gosh that was a bit of a rant, sorry! Poor OP only asked how overweight you needed to be!!

I hope you understand what I mean though, this obesity epidemic is far more a symptom of a greater malaise, and simply going to a slimming club alone will perhaps ease the symptom but it won't cure the root problem without addressing the causes.

 

[janiebaby]

No worries !! its good to have a debate , its just that is ironic that i have put on weight because of the NHS :sigh:, they dont seem to be in a hurry to get me sorted .
thanks for all the replies xx