Warning of child disease 'epidemic'

Staff at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital said the huge growth in the number of avoidable health complaints could lead to a generation dying before their parents.

Staff said there had been a considerable increase in the amount of time spent dealing with avoidable conditions.

Dr Steve Ryan, medical director at Alder Hey, told the BBC: "It just shouldn't be happening.

"These children should not be suffering from these problems and they should not be here at this hospital. People are starting to say maybe this is a generation where children will be dying before their parents."

Alder Hey is one of Europe's biggest children's hospitals, providing care for more than 200,000 children each year.

BBC's Panorama programme claimed around 1m and hundreds of hours of treatment time were being spent at the hospital treating obesity, tooth decay, alcohol abuse and health complaints which are associated with passive smoking.

The programme Spoilt Rotten? was shown on BBC1 last night.