SECOND OPINION
sity currently receives very little attention in undergraduate curricula. The General Medical Council’s document “Tomorrow’s Doctors” sets the outcomes that medical students are expected to achieve whilst at medical school, and unbelievably there is only one mention of obesity – and this is in a section obscurely entitled “discussing sensitive issues”.
“We haven’t received specific teaching on obesity” is a familiar comment we received, not surprisingly, from a number of medical students and junior doctors. We strongly recommend that diet, lifestyle and lev- els of physical activity should become key components of a standard medical history.
We also advise that obesity features more prominently in the undergraduate curric- ula of all healthcare professions. Students and practitioners in all healthcare pro- fessions must be aware of the causes and consequences of obesity, and the best man- agement options available. Finally, obesity management is multi-disciplinary and so this, we believe, should be reflected by es- tablishing innovative multi-disciplinary obesity programmes where healthcare pro- fessionals are educated together.
The promotion of public health cannot be monopolised by one healthcare profession, but rather must be an integrated impera- tive that is collectively advanced.
4. Obesity in schools
The most significant risk factor, as re- vealed by a recent review of the literature, for childhood obesity is parental obesity.5 Parents are critical in providing an en- vironment both in the womb and in the home that supports, enables and encour- ages a healthy lifestyle. Antenatal classes, postnatal care, midwifery, health visitor and family nurse partnership programmes are all essential for educating mothers and fathers on the importance of providing a healthy diet and a healthy environment for their children and in empowering them to achieve these goals.
These programmes must continue. In addi- tion, programmes that aim to reduce child- hood obesity must target both children and parents as either in isolation will not succeed. Finally, we believe that physical education and nutrition education must re- main core subjects for all pupils in all years and that politicians from all parties must recognise the value of “competitive sport” and after hours sports clubs.
5. Obesity in the workplace
It is clear that reducing the prevalence of obesity could ultimately lead to significant savings for employers, as obese individuals have been shown to take more sick leave. We call on all businesses and organisations to promote healthy living amongst their employers by encouraging walking and cycling to work, by ensuring that healthy food and drink is always available, and by establishing clubs that promote physical activity, like lunchtime running clubs.
As emphasised previously, putting mecha- nisms in place is vital, but equally im- portant is the workplace educating their employees about why a healthy lifestyle is needed, how they as individuals can lead a healthy lifestyle, and how the workplace can support these outcomes. We believe all workplaces should create healthy living champions who are charged with seeing through this agenda. The NHS itself should lead by example, as this would not only improve healthy living amongst NHS staff, but would potentially help to improve com- pliance rates amongst their patients.
Sadly, a recent report published by the Royal College of Physicians and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine revealed that only 15% of NHS trusts have a policy to combat staff obesity.6
6. Obesity and the UK economy Finally, there is the UK economy. The es-
18 | national health executive Sep/Oct 11
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