'Of course fat people CAN'T take responsibility for their weight - there's too much temptation everywhere,' says obesity doctor

'Of course fat people CAN'T take responsibility for their weight - there's too much temptation everywhere,' says obesity doctor

• Dr Sally Norton is an NHS consultant specialising in weight loss
• Says rather than blame, overweight people need as much help as possible
• Argues busy lifestyles and constant temptation to eat junk are the culprits 
• Says many of us have no time or energy to work on our weight, health and fitness in the remaining hours after finishing work
• Backs new plans unveiled today for more weight loss schemes in workplace

By Dr Sally Norton for MailOnline

Published: 13:58 GMT, 23 October 2014 | Updated: 14:29 GMT, 23 October 2014

Obese people will be paid to lose weight through schemes in the workplace, under radical plans unveiled today.

Under the NHS-backed scheme, slimmers would be given rewards such as cash or shopping vouchers.

Employers will also be urged to offer incentives to staff who shed pounds.

Firms will be given some funding to set up slimming or exercise classes and also receive tax breaks from the Government.

Critics argue that obese people should take responsibility for their own health.

But Dr Sally Norton, an NHS consultant specialising in weight loss, says our busy lifestyles and constant temptation to eat fatty foods means this is simply unrealistic.

Dr Norton - who works at Bristol Royal Infirmary and Southmead Hospital - argues we should give overweight people as much help as possible, to try and halt the obesity crisis. 

Here, she gives her view...

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Dr Sally Norton says our busy lifestyles and constant temptation to eat fatty foods means many people simply can't manage their weight  

I am getting more and more cross. 

Every time I discuss weight loss and health issues, someone will say, in a rather accusatory tone, 'surely it is down to the individual to take responsibility for their own weight and well-being'.

Perhaps, in an ideal world - but this is the real world and we need to face facts.

How can we be stuck in a sedentary job, eating poor quality food, hunched over a computer, under stress from 9-5, five days a week, and expect to have the time or energy to work on our weight, health and fitness in the remaining hours?

As an NHS weight loss surgeon, the person in front of me is seeking help.

Should my response then be: 'Well, of course you do understand I can't help you - it was your personal choice, your weak will, your lack of ability to resist temptation.

'And now you are going to die early from a weight related disease.

'Oh, and by the way, there's a Caramel Latte for you as you leave the premises - in one of the many coffee shops springing up in hospitals - to help with the shock?'

Of course not – because I don't believe that is true.

Instead, I will provide weight loss surgery, where appropriate.

But I think we should be insisting that employers, manufactures, retail outlets, governments and especially our hospitals are doing all they can to help us keep weight off in a healthy way. 

Two thirds of us are overweight or obese and we are making sure that our kids are following in our footsteps.

The bottom line is, that however much we want to eat more healthily and take more exercise, we are surrounded by temptation wherever we turn. 

Portions are getting bigger and bigger. Manufacturers are busy dreaming up increasingly calorie-packed offerings that they market to us with well-researched psychological manipulation.

We seem busier than ever, but in a sedentary way.

We are often trapped in offices with limited opportunity for activity, and everything is geared towards convenience: drive-throughs, escalators, home deliveries, gadgets to reduce physical effort.

So, yes, personal responsibility is important - but we need help. 

It is blindingly obvious that we can't beat this on our own. 

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She argues many us are 'trapped in offices with limited opportunity for activity, and everything is geared towards convenience' - including fast food and moving as little as possible 

We need manufacturers to do their bit by providing us with easy access to healthier food choices.

We don't need tricks such as coercing us into buying double sized chocolate bars that we all know won't be shared - but instead will change our perception of a normal serving. 

We also need to make health and well-being part of our daily lives, and that, for many of us, involves the workplace.

Simon Stevens has today suggested that companies should be encouraged to help us tackle our weight and health. 

Dr Norton recently spoke out about the rise of coffee outlets in hospitals and says she no longer shakes the hands of her patients - more often than not because they arrive clutching a Costa take-out.

In the place of these popular coffee shops and fast food outlets, she has called for restaurants and cafes championing local food producers and offering healthy and tasty snacks.

'We read every week, in The BMJ and other leading medical journals, of research detailing the perils of sugar and fizzy drinks,' she said.

'We frequently hear laments about the cost to the NHS of the epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes, which is threatening to engulf us.

'And yet, the NHS, which I understood to be an organisation that promotes and supports health (rather than just treating disease), is actually contributing to the problem.

'As a weight loss surgeon, I find it frustrating and, frankly, embarrassing to spend time in clinic, explaining to my patients how sugary drinks and snacks are one of the biggest drivers of obesity, when I know that just outside in our hospital foyer are not one, but two Costa coffee shops, as well as vending machines stocked full of coke and chocolate.'

This has provoked all sorts of derisory comments about how we would be affronted to have our employers forcing us on to the scales every Monday for an office weigh-in. 

Of course, there are good and bad ways to do this, but the crux is that many of us spend a vast proportion of our lives at work.

So if our work environment doesn't encourage us to be healthy then we just don't stand a chance. 

Simon Stevens says the NHS is in financial crisis - but can we expect individuals to take responsibility for their health? Well it hasn't worked so far.

Simon Stevens is right.

If we don't challenge the causes of illness then the NHS is at risk of becoming bankrupt. 

When providing a cure is financially not viable any more then the only choice is to identify the cause of the imbalance and tackle it at the roots.

It was never enough to look for a cure for cancer – it was always the aim to stop smoking through education; through warning on packaging; through removing temptation. 

How is it any different for obesity?

Simon Stevens is asking government to get involved – to offer corporate rewards for health in the workplace - and I agree.  

Let's make the most of this opportunity to improve our health, weight and well-being at our employer's expense – and we may even find work more enjoyable as a result.

Any employer shuddering at the thought of introducing this initiative can take note of the boom in workplace wellness programmes in the U.S., where companies have seen the benefit of caring for their staff.

UK employers lose over £20 billion a year due to absenteeism, but the costs of presenteeism - reduced productivity at work due to ill-health or poor fitness - may be three times higher.

Being overweight or obese increases the number of sickness days taken by 50 per cent.

This equates to around  £14 billion a year in lost revenue and may increase presenteeism rates 15-fold.

As doctors, we need to give you the holistic care you expect to help you lead a longer, happier life but, at the same time, we must try to preserve the NHS from bankruptcy.