NHS is weighed down by the problem of British obesity

THE NHS does not have a bottomless pit of money (Yorkshire Post, March 11). The money that it does have is provided by taxpayers and has to be seen as a fair contribution which they are able and willing to provide.

It would be very nice if we lived in some kind of land where every ailment, every kind of condition, every illness, could be treated immediately, with hospital care beyond any possible criticism and with cash so plentiful there wasn’t any requirement to even produce a budget.

But, this situation doesn’t exist in Britain, it has only ever been found in cloud cuckoo-land.

It was only in our very recent past that a state of euphoria apparently existed in Britain – the government was able to spend money as though its supply was never ending and a time could not be envisaged when this would stop with the money running out.

Now, look what’s happened. Financial cut-backs, job losses, company failures, everything seems to be on a downward path, the unimaginable has occurred – the money has finally run out.

Surely, we cannot and must not allow the NHS to suffer a similar fate. Is doing nothing really likely so solve its problems?

The cost of the obesity epidemic is spiralling out of control and it is no use ignoring this fact and hoping it will, somehow disappear. Quoting other self-inflicted illnesses is hardly a just defence of obesity.

The cost of treating seriously obese patients is increasing at far, far higher rates then all other conditions.

If the NHS is to survive shouldn’t we at least begin to accept that obesity is a real problem?

NHS resources are limited and must be allocated in the best possible way. Would you rather tell the parents that their child’s heart operation will be done in Newcastle or Liverpool because the unit at the Leeds General Infirmary may be closed; or tell a cancer sufferer life-prolonging drugs are not available because of their cost; or explain to sons and daughters why their elderly sick mother or father isn’t being looked after as they should expect?

Obesity is a modern condition which, with the exception of a minority of cases, is entirely self-inflicted and which can be reversed by the self-same individual. Ignoring the problem uses the same logic which has led to the present parlous economic state of our country.