Warning of obesity risks to entire generation

An entire generation of children now at primary school is heading towards increased rates of serious health problems, an influential committee of MPs says. It criticises the departments of Health and Education and Skills for doing too little to stem the "alarming" obesity epidemic. At least one primary school child in seven is now classed as obese.

The report from the Public Accounts Committee says obesity costs the nation around £3.5 billion, which will rise to £4.5 billion in three years if the trends continue.

Parents should be told when their children weigh in as overweight or obese, they say, overruling fears that children would be stigmatised.

"If a primary school finds that a child is overweight or obese then the parents must be informed," Edward Leigh, the chairman of the committee, said. "To do otherwise would be to keep parents in the dark about possible serious health risks to their children."

The report says obesity among two- to 10-year-olds rose from 9.9 per cent in 1995 to 13.4 per cent in 2004. Mr Leigh said: "Unless we act, the proportion of children who are obese will increase rapidly."

But changing the behaviour of children and their parents was "tricky territory", he added. "It is therefore all the more urgent that the departments involved work together to set a clear direction."

The Public Accounts Committee identified a "complex" chain for tackling childhood obesity which involved 26 different bodies and suffered from "confusion over roles and responsibilities".

The departments of Health, Education and Culture, Media and Sport set a joint target three years ago to halt the increase in obesity among under-11s by 2011.

Mr Leigh said: "It is lamentable that there is still so much dithering and confusion and still so little co-ordination."

It was revealed last summer that the Department of Health's nationwide survey to measure children had failed because less than half of parents gave permission for their children to be weighed.

The report says: "The department of health had initially decided not to tell parents or children the results unless they asked for them, because of concerns raised . . . about potential stigmatisation and bullying in schools."

The committee had told the department that "failing to tell parents that their child is dangerously overweight could lead to the risk of serious illness or death".

Tam Fry, for the National Obesity Forum, said: "The Department of Health was totally wrong when it decided to make it difficult for parents to find out about their children's weight. I am absolutely clear that the parents should get this information. It is essential that they should receive it as of right."

Some parents, he added, were in denial over their children's problem or ignorant of it. Mr Fry praised a system in Birmingham primary schools were all children were weighed and measured as part of learning about numbers as part of the curriculum.

"I want to see this idea rolled out across the nation," he said.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the Conservatives shared the committee's alarm at the dramatic increase in childhood obesity and the apparently unco-ordinated way in which the Government was dealing with it.

"We are over two years on from the Labour's public health White Paper, with no sign of any progress in halting the rise in childhood obesity — let alone reversing it. This report suggests that the Government is thrashing about with a series of loosely connected initiatives in the hope of it amounting to a strategy," he said.

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat spokesman, said: "Unless action is taken now an entire generation will suffer increased rates of serious disease like Type 2 diabetes and heart disease."

Caroline Flint, the public health minister, said childhood obesity was a complex issue, as the Public Accounts Committee recognised.

"There are no easy answers or quick-fix solutions. Changing behaviour requires long-term action on a number of fronts and that is what we are putting in place. The Government will consider the report carefully before making a full response," she said.

From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/25/nfat25.xml

The supreme irony is that as people live longer the value of thier pensions is plummeting as greedy gordon brown's stealth taxes our pension's growth and when we do fall ill in our dotage all of the eldery care homes will be full or closed - or darned expensive in what is left of the private sector.

On Dec 20, 05 in Health Service Ombudsman Watchdog targets the scandal of means test injustice, Health Direct then pointed out that many elderly people are still not getting their care costs met, and the Health Service Ombudsman Ann Abraham has had enough. Health authorities' bungling of means tests for long term care fees prompted the watchdog to act to try to stop the scandal once and for all.

Tens of thousands of family homes are sold each year to pay for the cost of long-term care - but many families that should receive help from the state do not.

Ann Abraham, the health service ombudsman, produced new checklists after becoming increasingly frustrated at the haphazard approach taken by many health authorities. She issued her first damning report into the scandal of misapplied means tests nearly three years ago. Yet despite further criticism since then, she still has cases waiting to be reviewed correctly by health authorities.

Ms Abraham found in February 2003 that many elderly infirm patients have been forced to pay for care that should have been funded by the state. This happened because their health authorities failed to assess their case properly. Ms Abraham ordered a review of all cases back to 1996.

The general rule is that, if the care someone needs is personal, such as help with dressing, they must pay for it themselves. If medical care is needed, the NHS should pay.