Ooh Matron, Loseweight … You’re a Bad Example to Patients

FAT doctors and nurses should be made to slim down because they set a bad example to patients, doctors’ leaders say.

The British Medical Association is considering a proposal to open free ‘fat clubs’ at every NHS hospital because, say experts, overweight doctors and nurses lack credibility when they urge patients to slim.

‘Doctors and nurses are role models to many patients,’ said Dr Peter Tiplady, chairman of the BMA’s public health committee.

‘Doctors are being very good at giving up smoking and so when they advise their patients to give up they have some credibility. The same should go for weight.’

Dr Tiplady added: ‘Looking at doctors, there are certainly a few that need to give attention to their size, myself included.’

Two-thirds of adults in Britain are overweight and the level of obesity has tripled over the past 20 years. Dr Ian Campbell, president of the National Obesity Forum, said studies had shown patients responded better to advice on losing weight when they were seen by a lean doctor.

The fat club idea is being proposed by the BMA’s Junior Members Forum. The Department of Health refused to comment.

The proposal will be discussed at the BMA’s public health conference in London on Thursday.