GPs 'avoiding obesity discussions'
Press Association
Thursday August 31, 2006 8:08 AM
Almost half of GPs avoid discussing the issue of obesity with fat patients, according to a new survey.
That is despite 60% believing patients are harming their health by being obese or overweight, the research found.
Almost a quarter (24%) of around 250 doctors questioned said they felt uncomfortable discussing a child's obesity with his or her parents. One in five (20%) GPs also said they had withheld treatment from a patient because of their unhealthy lifestyle.
And half agreed with the decision by Suffolk East Primary Care Trust not to refer patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 30 for operations such as hip and knee replacements.
The survey, for Norwich Union Healthcare, comes after figures out last week showed that around a third of adults and a fifth of children will be obese by 2010.
More than 12 million adults and one million children will be obese, with millions more overweight, the Government figures showed.
The latest research suggests doctors may be holding back on discussing obesity, despite 84% saying they are seeing more obese patients visiting their surgery.
Meanwhile, 90% said they would be happy talking about suspected alcohol or drug abuse with their patients.
But Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs Committee, said he had little confidence that the "tiny sample" of less than 1% of the UK's GPs reflected what was going on in general practice.
"Doctors, even more than anybody else, appreciate the health problems associated with obesity," he said.
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