"kind of along the lines of should the nhs pay for smokers and obese people in general if they don't look after themselves"
Hia GreenDayJen, I wasn't thinking in terms of blaming people who are overweight for their problem. It was really about the psychological effect of paying (or sacrificing) something in order to achieve something. I think it makes a difference if you invest time or money in order to achieve a goal.
I was thinking about the young girl who has featured on the '34 stone teenager' programmes. When I watched these programmes it struck me that giving her a bypass operation simply missed the point. She had a real problem with food which was in her head, and unless THAT was dealt with, she would never get better.
So, initially she lost weight but then started gaining again, and it wasn't until she got cognitive behaviour counselling that she finally began to recover emotionally. You could see the confidence emerging, it was lovely to see.
If the NHS offered CBT counselling (perhaps part funded by patient, part funded by NHS) of this nature to all people who required it, whether for weight loss (or gain), smoking, gambling, alcohol, or drug addiction, it would mean that patients could gain an insight into their addiction and learn how to deal with it.
It's certainly something to think about.