Weight Problem Plagues UK’s National Health Service Staff
There’s a problem with more than half the people who work for the National Health Service in the United Kingdom: a weight problem. Channel Four in the United Kingdom recently reported that among the 1.2 million adults who work for the service as midwives, nurses and health visitors, an estimated 700,000 of them are either obese or overweight. And orders have been sent for these folks to shape up!
A report from the United Kingdom Department of Health confirms this number and includes a plan to develop several programs in the next year that will help bring the staff down to more slender levels. The report emphasized the need for these employees to set a good example while counseling other people about their health.
Underscoring the point, the report cited the recent success that the department had after encouraging many of its doctors to quit smoking.
The examples set by the medical staff are crucial, since the National Health Service, which is publicly funded, provides more than 80 percent of all medical services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This includes long-term, in-patient, prenatal, primary and emergency care for people of all ages. Its staff deals with up to a million patients every 36 hours.
