Suffolk’s “obesity crisis” is feared to have reached “epidemic” levels with new figures showing a near trebling of hospital admissions related to the disorder.
Thousands of people in Suffolk and north Essex were admitted to hospitals due to obesity in 2015/16 with some parts of the region recording huge increases on previous years.
According to NHS Digital’s report, published this month, the rate of hospital admissions almost trebled in West Suffolk between 2013-16, while in Ipswich and East Suffolk it increased by 62%.
It comes amid warnings from the House of Lords that the NHS Constitution should be redrafted with greater emphasis on personal responsibilities.
Lords called on the Government to “redouble its efforts to educate the public about the true costs to the NHS of poor lifestyle choices.”
Obesity related disorders account for a significant proportion of NHS spending, which this year is facing an £886m deficit in England.
Overweight people are more likely to suffer from a wide range of conditions including diabetes, arthritis and heart disease as well as anxiety, depression and even cancer. Treating disorders linked with obesity is estimated to have cost the NHS £162.5m in Suffolk alone in 2015.
Chris Rufford, who is the Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group’s lead for self-care and prevention, warned in January that Suffolk obesity crisis was reaching “epidemic proportions”. Reflecting on the latest figures, he said the problem was only getting worse.
“Obesity is a huge problem but it’s not being challenged by the medical profession,” he added.
Dr Rufford, who is also a physical activity champion with Public Health England, said tackling obesity would require a cultural change. Levels of inactivity are higher than average in Suffolk and north Essex, with more than a third of people in Forest Heath and Tendring performing less than 30 minutes of physical exercise a week, according to Sport England.
Dr Rufford welcomed developments such as the Great East Run, which he hoped would encourage people to take up running, but suggested more needed to be done to promote physical exercise as an alternative to sedentary modern lifestyles.
He also says bariatric surgery – such as gastric bands and stomach stapling – should be used more, claiming the UK lags behind the rest of Europe. The NHS Digital report show there were more than 6,000 bariatric surgeries carried out in England last year, however instances in Suffolk were less than half the national average per 100,000 of the population.
The report also warned “morbid obesity” had more than trebled nationally since 1993.
Health and Wellbeing Suffolk’s report Is Prevention Better than The Cure? said increases of morbid obesity were continuing to rise, particularly in women. It said being obese was “becoming the social norm” and a whole system approach is needed to tackle” the problem.
While overall life expectancy was increasing in Suffolk the report found healthy life expectancy had started to decline.
“We are running out of time,” it said. “We are on our way to becoming less healthy now than our predecessors, and if we want this to change, we need to change as individuals, families, communities and professionals.”
Suffolk County Council said “no single organisation” can address obesity on its own “which is why we need to work with the NHS, businesses and other partners across Suffolk to tackle the problem”. A council spokesman highlighted the work of Suffolk’s public health teams, alongside district and borough councils, to launch the “Eat Out, Eat Well” award, for restaurants, cafes and other outlets to demonstrate healthier food options on their menus.
“Recently, we have also introduced healthier food options in schools, with many schools involved in the innovative ‘Food for Life’ project,” the spokesman added. “We are also championing the ‘Year of Walking’ campaign to encourage more people to get active in the months to come.
“For those who need support to lose weight, we commission weight management services for children, young people and adults, available from OneLife Suffolk.”
In Sudbury, Lowestoft and Tendring, “Beat the Street” - an initiative where people earn points as they walk, cycle and run to make exercise into a game –has also proved successful. In Tendring, where 10,000 residents took part last year, the scheme has won a number of awards.
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